Give 'Em Hell, Kid
by ChewedCrayon
Summary: One day, a young girl suddenly appears at the gates of Konoha. Who is she? Why is she here? Where are her family? You're about to find out... She lives by one phrase, and one phrase only, and that is... "Give 'Em Hell Kid." And Give 'Em Hell she will.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I'd never given much thought to how my life would turn out. I just didn't expect this. I was left with nothing. Nothing but my buddy, my best friend and the only person I truly cared about any more. My little Eriko. Eriko wasn't a person, she was my little dog.

I stood at the cliff edge overlooking a village, the faces of four generations of Hokage looking down at them, protecting them. This was my new home. As much as I didn't like it, I had to accept it. But I wouldn't go easy on them.

I remembered the last words he had spoken to me, the very last thing he had said.

"Give 'em hell, kid."

And give 'em hell I would.

**Author's note**

I'm sorry it's a bit of a terrible beginning, I just hadn't a clue how to start it D: I was staring at the screen for half an hour like O_O

It'll get better though! :3 And don't worry, my chapters are longer obviously.

I think

I hope

Thanks for reading! Please review, tell me what you think! :)


	2. Chapter 1

It was a bright morning, sunlight leaking through the windows of the Third Hokage's office. The Hokage himself was seated behind a large desk stacked with piles of paperwork, writing furiously. He needed to get things done much quicker than this. As he wrote, his pen scratching against the paper, the sunlight a constant distraction, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called wearily. The door opened and two jounin entered, each holding the upper arms of a young girl, who couldn't have been any older than twelve or thirteen. The Hokage stood up and stepped around his desk before stopping in front of the young girl, who was staring boldly back at him.

"We found this girl entering the village. She wore no headband and seemingly has no ties to our village, or any village for that matter, and refused to tell us her name, so we brought her to you," one of the jounin told him.

"Very well. Miratashi, Thisuha, you may leave."

The two men released the girl's arms and walked out, closing the door behind them. The girl looked pretty harmless. She had black hair and extremely pale skin, a curious combination.

"Who are you?" the Hokage asked gently.

"Eira," she replied simply. "I was told to come here to live. I have no family. I have trained as a ninja though," she added helpfully.

The Hokage looked at her thoughtfully. How was it that she refused to tell the two Jounin her name and yet had no problem telling him? He voiced this question.

"Because you're the Hokage. And they're not," she answered bluntly. The Hokage chuckled. There was something strange about this girl. The genuine bluntness of her answer was strange and intriguing at the same time.

"Very well, you may stay in the village, but Jounin in the village will be keeping a close eye on you until we're sure you're not up to anything," he told her. "We currently have no available houses but you are welcome to temporarily live with one of the genin your age. Starting tomorrow you will be enrolled in the Ninja academy. You'll have to do a lot of training tonight, it's graduation day tomorrow. You're at genin level, am I right?"

Eira nodded.

"You may be dismissed. By the way.. I'll need your surname," he added with a slight smile.

"Kihara," she replied, before turning and leaving.

**Eira's POV**

_They told me to come HERE? Ridiculous. Two grown men confront me as soon as I walk in and there's an old man ruling the village?_**, **I thought to myself as I wandered aimlessly through the streets of the Leaf Village. I actually had to skirt around the entrance to the village just to convince myself this was actually the leaf village. I heard barking and soon saw Eriko, my little golden puppy running towards me, yapping happily. I picked her up and cuddled her, before placing her on top of my head. She seemed to enjoy it up there, her small paws hanging over my forehead and bangs.

"What's cookin' good lookin'?" a voice said behind me. I whipped round to see a boy wearing a grey jacket with the fur-rimmed hood down, containing a small white puppy, and spiky brown hair winking at me. He had strange red marks on his cheeks, like fangs.

"How corny," I retorted, turning and walking away from him.

"Wait!" he called. "What's your name?"

"Eira," I replied, looking over my shoulder.

"I'm Kiba!" he called back.

"Nice to meet you.." I said, quieter than before, and walked off. That puppy of his... He bore an uncanny resemblance to Eriko. Strange.

Soon I realised I didn't even have any money. _Well this is just fantastic, isn't it?_ I thought to myself wearily. I couldn't even book a room in the inn for the night.

It looked like I'd be sleeping outdoors for the time being. I couldn't even get any food or a blanket to keep me warm. I'd come totally unprepared. I sighed and carried on walking, dragging my feet along the path, looking at the floor until I bumped into someone.

I looked up to see a boy about my age with raven black hair and onyx eyes.

"Watch where you're going," I muttered, even though it was probably my fault we bumped into each other.

"Hn," he replied. I supposed he wasn't much of a talker.

Night fell rapidly as I wandered the streets, and I realised I was going to have to find a place to stay. I was exhausted from my long trek to get to the village, so exhausted I didn't even have the energy to climb a tree. Instead I found a nice one with lots of branches and leaves, creating a nice shelter, and curled up at the bottom of it. Eriko climbed on my lap and tried to make me warmer, and I cuddled her close, slowly drifting off to sleep.

I was awakened by someone in my face, loudly inquiring why I was asleep under a tree. I opened one eye, suppressing a yawn, to see a boy with spiky, blindingly bright yellow hair, cerulean blue eyes and weird markings on his cheeks. He was wearing a weird orange jumpsuit.

"Could you get out of my face please?" I asked irritably, annoyed that I'd been woken up by some idiot.

"Sorry," the boy muttered, blushing. I opened my eyes fully and stood up, Eriko jumping into the hood of my hoodie. I wasn't very tall, and it didn't look like this boy was either. I was only an inch shorter than him, and I was quite short for my age.

"Your name?" I inquired.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, Believe it!" he exclaimed, fist pumping the air. I sweat dropped, wondering if he was always like that.

"Yes, he's always like that," a bored-sounding voice told me, reading my mind. I saw a boy with spiky hair in a ponytail leaning against a tree.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" I asked, confused.

"Everyone thinks that," he replied, smirking.

Suddenly I realised; I was supposed to be at the academy! I waved and ran at top speed and reached the academy, panting, only to find the classroom empty. Maybe I was a little early...

I decided to wander round some more. Big mistake. I ran into the Uzumaki kid again.

"Heey, I wondered where you ran off to, I wanted to ask what... what your name was?" he inquired, blushing.

"Eira," I muttered, then walked away as he shot off at top speed. I wondered where he was going. It took a while for me to realise, but them it dawned on me. He was at the academy too, and he must have been late.

"Naruto! He- Hey! Naruto!" I yelled, racing after him, but he was too far away to hear me now. I arrived at the academy and burst into my classroom to see it now filled with students. They all turned to stare at me.

"Sorry I'm late," I mumbled. Everyone was still staring at me.

"What?" I asked rhetorically, annoyed, as I picked a random leaf out of my hair. "Am I some kind of freakshow? ...Wait, don't answer that." I sighed and sat in the only available seat next to that Kiba dude. Eriko hopped onto the desk in front of me, resting her head on her paws.

"Ah, you must be the new girl. Eika, am I correct?" the sensei at the front of the classroom said to me.

"It's Eira," I replied stiffly.

"Yeah, sorry," he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "I'm Iruka Sensei."

"Hi Iruka," I said, stroking Eriko's head.

"Iruka-sensei, if you please," Iruka answered.

"Sorry Iruka." This caused some of the students to chuckle. Kiba grinned at me, but I stared at him blankly.

Iruka sighed and began explaining the basics of the graduation exam. I stopped listening after a while and sat talking to Eriko. I noticed Kiba was staring at her curiously.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing.. she just looks familiar." he shook his head, still scrutinizing Eriko.

"Whatever," I muttered, turning away from him.

I seriously didn't think I was going to enjoy being here. What was he thinking? making me come all the way here.

I didn't understand my life sometimes..

Thanks for reading! I'm gonna upload the first 13 chapters now because I'm carrying this over from another site where I have it posted J I hope you enjoyed! Sorry if my author's notes at the end of each chapter annoy you, just ignore them J


	3. Chapter 2

"Graduating from the Academy usually consists of taking both a written exam and a practical exam, administered by a chunin instructor, to earn enough marks to pass. Upon graduating, students will receive a forehead protector, proof of their achievement. Graduating students are then separated into squads of three genin and assigned to a jounin-sensei to instruct them further. Students who don't pass the tests set by their chunin-sensei may be held back for another year," Iruka explained to us all as I stared out of a window, utterly bored.

We were currently in the middle of the written exam. I sat, bored out of my mind, having already finished the questions. Eriko knew a jutsu to make herself shrink, and then she hopped from desk to desk looking at the likes of Shikamaru's, the spikey haired guy, and Sakura's, an annoying pink haired girl, work, then coming back and telling me the answers. I only needed a couple of answers, I knew most of them. I wasn't an idiot.

Speaking of idiots... I side glanced at Naruto, who, in the meantime, was practically tearing his hair out. I kinda felt sorry for the guy. I mean, he couldn't help being stupid, right?

When the test was over, we then had to perform the clone jutsu. It was pretty simple, and I passed easily, but stayed to watch the rest. I watched with interest as some succeeded and some failed. I eventually began to doze off when I heard yelling and exclaimations. My eyes shot open and I saw a beautiful blonde girl standing there with a seductive smile on her face and long blonde hair. She was completely nude, with clouds to cover her... parts.

I sweatdropped, noticing the whisker marks on her cheeks.

"Oh, Naruto," I sighed, shaking my head.

What. An. Idiot.

I stood up and left, walking outside and seating myself under a tree. I took out a book and began reading it, absent-mindedly biting my bottom lip.

"Hey there pretty lady," Kiba's voice sounded, as he jumped down from a branch of the tree I was sitting under.

"Is the cheesiness necessary?" I muttered.

He slung his arm around my shoulders. "No need to be like that, gorgeous."

"Get off me, mutt," I hissed. He held his hands up in defence.

"I'm sorry, jeez! What's got you all wound up?"

"You!" I shouted, losing my temper. "You're annoying!"

"Fine, I'll just stay away from you then!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Good."

"Whatever."

We stormed away in opposite directions. It didn't do when I was in a temper. I could go into baad tempers sometimes. AND hold grudges.

I noticed Sakura staring at me as I stormed past her.

"What?" I asked, glaring at her. She shrunk away so I just carried on walking until I reached the same tree I'd slept under last night. Then Eriko bounded up happily.

"Where've you been?" I snapped irritably. Hurt filled her eyes, and I picked her up and hugged her, my bad mood vanishing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. So where've you been?" I asked, adopting a less.. agitated tone, setting her down.

"I've been with Akamaru. The Kiba boy's dog!" Eriko barked, her eyes filling with dreaminess. I stared at her. Great. My dog had fell in love with my new-found enemy's dog. Well that was just perfect.

~~~~The Next Day~~~~~

Today was the day we were going to be put on our squads of three. Naruto had let me stay at his place until I got my own house. He may have been annoying and a complete idiot but hey, the kid had a good heart, so I accepted. His house was... undescribably messy. When I had first walked in, the sight that greeted me almost made my eyeballs shrivel up and die. Same goes for my nose. The smell was horrific. He didn't seem to notice it though; I supposed he was used to it.

I had managed to get rid of the smell while he was out somewhere with Iruka, and, to my surprise, had returned with his own leaf village headband. I kept most of the mess though. It made the place seem more like a home. I'd never been able to stand impeccably tidy rooms or houses; it was unnatural.

Luckily Naruto had always had a spare room in his house which he used for random junk. With the help of Hinata - who, by the way, was crushing on Naruto, and it was painfully obvious to everyone except Naruto himself -, we managed to clean everything out, then set up a bed, wardrobe, dresser, etc in there.

I went to my wardrobe and pulled out a black hoodie, black shorts and stripy black-and-white over-the-knee socks. I didn't tend to wear the standard shinobi sandles. I hated exposing my toes or heel when wearing shoes, I just found it weird. Instead I wore black combat boots that went mid-way up my calf. I attached my weapons pouch to my left thigh and tied my leaf headband round my right. I usually had my headband either round my neck or round my thigh; I didn't like having it on my forehead because it usually slipped down into my eyes, somehow. I couldn't tie it right, and was too proud to ask any one else to tie it for me.

I grabbed the cup of ramen Naruto had just waited three minutes for, grabbed a fork and left the house, eating it on the way, hearing loud complaints from Naruto behind me. It was his ramen. I turned round and grinned at him, showing my unusually pointed teeth.

I threw the almost-empty cup away as I neared the academy along with my fork - we had lots of cutlery - and then made my way into the academy and to my classroom. The only other people who were here yet were Hinata, her pale eyes darting around nervously, and the raven haired boy who I had bumped into on my first day in this village, who's name, I had been told, was Sasuke Uchiha. I'd heard about the Uchihas. Apparently his brother killed the whole family and left him alive for some reason. Pretty depressing..

I took my seat at the back - or top, whichever way you look at it - of the classroom and sat there stroking Eriko's soft golden fur and staring out of the window absent-mindedly. Soon the other students began pouring in, and I stifled a growl that threatened to let loose when I heard someone sit in the chair beside me. I knew who it was. He stunk of dog. It wasn't actually a bad smell...

Iruka stood at the front of the classroom and began explaining the basic facts about the ninja squads and how they worked before announcing our teams.

"Team Seven is, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and-" he was cut off by a loud fangirl cheer from Sakura, obviously thrilled that she was on Sasuke's team.

_Please don't say me, please don't say me!_ I thought, crossing my fingers.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto cheered as Sakura slumped on the desk in defeat. I sighed with relief. Thank god for that..

"Team Eight is Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and..."

_Oh god. Please. Please PLEASE don't say me. I'd rather be on the team with the annoying blonde bimbo and the chubby kid, _I thought urgently, to no avail.

"...Eira Kihara."

"WHAT?" I shrieked, shooting Kiba a death glare. Why why why?

"I'm sorry but that's the way it is. If you don't like it, deal with it," Iruka told me. He was still pretty sore about my lack of respect towards him. Or anyone superior to myself, for that matter.

"You'll be meeting your new Senseis soon, go to your assigned rooms and wait there."

He put emphasis on the word Sensei whilst looking at me, as if daring me to spit on the floor and declare my utmost disrespect. I smirked back at him.

We were waiting around in a room, bored as hell. I was sitting on a table with my legs crossed, Kiba was lounging about on another table nearby, occasionally giving me dirty looks which I returned, Shino leaned against the wall and Hinata stood in the middle of the room nervously.

The door opened to reveal a jounin who looked like she was in her late twenties with long, unkempt hair and strange eyes that were red in colour.

"Hello, my name is Kurenai-sensei. So you're my new squad, huh?" she smiled at us. "Why don't we introduce ourselves? I'll start. My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I have a lot of interests and I dislike students who are rude. I like a lot of things and care for my students deeply, once I get to know them. Now then, anyone who wants to go next?"

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka," Kiba piped up. "My favourite things are dogs, I dislike cats and my interests are training with my dog and best friend Akamaru!"

Kurenai looked at me.

"I'm Eira Kihara. I'm, or so I've been told, a nasty little girl who tends to disrespect people until they have earned my respect. I care for only one person, my little dog Eriko. I like dogs and sincerely dislike cats, nasty creatures. I have a lot of interests."

Everyone eyed me with a strange look in their eyes. They probably thought I was crazy. "You next," Kurenai said, smiling at Hinata.

"M-My n-name's Hinata H-Hyuuga," the poor girl stuttered. I kind of felt sorry for her. Kind of. "I like w-working hard t-to achive m-my goals and I d-don't really d-dislike anything e-except mean people."

"And you?" Kurenai asked, nodding at Shino.

"I am Shino Aburame. I like a lot of things, including my bugs. I dislike a lot of things also. I have a lot of interests like the others and the one thing I care about most are my bugs."

"It's nice to meet you all," Kurenai smiled at us. "Quite a mixed bunch, you are. anyway let's get cracking shall we?"


	4. Chapter 3

"Ew," I stated flatly, staring at mine and Kiba's dogs. Eriko seemed to be cleaning Akamaru's fur.

At least, I hoped that was what she was doing..

We were supposed to be doing the shopping for two old ladies; and were shopping in twos in different stores since, inconveniently, one shopped in the outdoor Kohona food market, where people set up stalls such as fish stalls, fruit and veg, etc, whilst the other old lady shopped in the supermarket.

I was originally paired up with Hinata, but then we realised that Akamaru and Eriko refused to separate so me and Kiba were paired up. I was currently sitting in a trolley amongst the items we were buying as Kiba pushed the trolley. I sat holding the abnormally long shopping list, reading out the list to him as he ran around frantically, pushing me in the trolley, down the isles in search of the items I was listing.

Akamaru and Eriko were perched on top of a pile of food, engrossed in their doggy acts, as I watched them, a slightly disgusted look on my face. I would have been fine if it was, I dunno, Shino's bugs because I didn't dislike Shino, but it just HAD to be Kiba's dog she fell for, didn't it?

The trolley was filling rapidly, the levels of items in the trolley getting dangerously high, and I was getting worried that I would be buried alive amongst food and... Deodorant. This lady bought a hell of a lot of deodorant. She had even listed the specific brands and scents of deodorant she required.

Kiba and I had already argued at least six times. And that didn't even count the occasional nasty remark towards each other. We really didn't get along.

I continued reeling off a list of items such as butter, eggs, milk, newspaper, ramen -the authentic, expensive type, not the usual cup ramen I, and most of the others, were used to-, deodorant, salmon, cheese cake, more deodorant, bottled water, even more deodorant, scented candles and... Denture cleaners. I shuddered when I read that out.

When we got to the till, bickering loudly, I placed the items on the counter from the trolley and made Kiba do all the packing.

"That's 768 Ryu, please" the woman behind the counter told us.

(A/N: Ryu, or Ryo, I'm not sure on the spelling, is the currency used in Naruto. 768 is.. Nearly 100 dollars I think? :3)

"WHAT?" We both yelled.

"The old lady only gave us three hundred! She's conned us or something!" Kiba shouted, but the woman was still waiting patiently for us to pay, pretending to be oblivious to our distress. After much arguing between the two of us, a lot of foot-tapping from the people behind us, and the woman behind the counter rapidly losing her patience, Kiba took out his money pouch, grumbling about how unfair it was that he should have to pay the extra. He handed over the last of his money plus the money the old lady had given us. I hopped out of the trolley and rooted through all of the bags until I found a nice red long-sleeved jumper and a black pleated skirt and put them in a separate bag then walked off, smiling to myself.

"Wait, why are you only carrying those clothes?" Kiba asked, confused.

I laughed to myself. I'd told him to pick those up saying that the old lady had written that she'd saw those a couple of weeks ago and wanted to get them for her grand daughter. She hadn't really, I just wanted them. Kiba's eyes widened when he realised my motives, then growled at me, glaring. I smirked and winked at him.

"You coming, mutt boy?" I asked.

"Wait, you're not even gonna help me with the bags?"

"Don't be stupid, of course I won't," I replied. He picked up the bags and complained loudly all the way back to the place Kurenai had told us to meet, Akamaru and Eriko trotting contentedly after us.

"Having to be with you is like hell on earth," he grumbled, to which I internally smiled. Hell? I was getting there.

When we arrived, Kiba collapsed on the floor, dropping all the bags and panting whilst I sat down on the grass admiring my new clothes. Soon Hinata and Shino arrived, holding a few bags each.

"See, why couldn't we be like them and carry the bags between us?" he grumbled.

"Because I'm a mean, short-tempered, uncaring, nasty little girl who enjoys watching you suffer," I replied with a sweet smile.

"Sadistic, much?" Kiba muttered.

"What was that, mutt-boy?" I hissed threateningly, standing up and clenching my fists. Kiba jumped up, equally mad.

"I said-"

"Guys, no fighting. Please," Kurenai cut him off, butting in, a sweat drop on her head. We sat down, sending each other dirty looks.

"Anyway," Kurenai said. "We'd better go see Mrs Kishimara and Mrs Ichiho to give them their shopping. And we're ALL going to carry shopping bags," she stated firmly, looking at me. Obviously, she'd seen Kiba surrounded by bags, still slightly tired out, and me contentedly admiring my new clothes and realised what I'd done. I scowled and walked over to Kiba. I picked up a few shopping bags and began walking next to Hinata, but not before accidentally-on-purpose stomping on his foot.

When Kiba, Kurenai, the two dogs and I -Kurenai had came with us to ensure we didn't break out into a full blown boxing match in the old lady's living room- arrived at Mrs Kishimara's house, the little old lady who had gave us the list and money opened the door. She, of course, was Mrs Kishimara.

She had a wrinkled face with round, thick-rimmed red glasses and white hair tied up in a tight bun in the back of her head, two curls of hair left loose, framing her face. She had extraordinarily large eyes and a pointed nose, and wore an excessive amount of badly-applied make up and large gold hoop earrings. She wore a green dress and had a funny-looking walking stick that had a curled bottom and a straight top with a rubber cap covering the top. Maybe she was just holding it upside down. She wore large red heels, which were so tall I was surprised she hadn't fallen down the stairs or something, especially at her age.

"Hi Mrs Kishimara," Kurenai said politely. "We've brought you your shopping!"

"Oh, thank you my dears, come in, come in! Please just leave it on the table in the kitchen," Mrs Kishimara said in a too-cheerful voice, ushering us inside and showing us the way to the kitchen.

"Excuse me, um, Mrs Kishimara?" Kiba began. I was surprised that he sounded almost... Timid? That wasn't like him. "You, um, only gave us three hundred ryu; all this shopping was actually seven hundred and sixty-eight ryu..."

"Did I? Sorry my dears," she shook her head at her own stupidness. "I'll be back in a moment," she said before leaving.

"Excuse me, um, you, um, only, um," I mimicked him, laughing. Kiba glared at me and I smiled innocently back at him. The old lady returned moments later carrying her purse.

"How much did you say you needed?" she asked.

"Four hundred and eighty-six ryu," I replied.

"Oh of course!" she began rooting through her purse and pulled out a few one hundred ryu bills, a fifty and some small coins. She handed them to me and I pocketed them gleefully.

"Thanks!" I grinned, staying as far away from Kiba as possible.

"We'd best be going now. Come on, you guys," Kurenai told us. "Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs Kishimara."

"No, thank YOU my dears," the old lady smiled at us.

As we left, I turned back and waved.

"Bye old lady!" I called.

"Eira, that was rude!" Kurenai frowned at me.

"Who said I was polite?" I shot back with a shrug.

As soon as we were far away from the house, Kiba pounced on me, knocking me to the floor. He sat on me and pinned my wrists either side of my head. I struggled and began screaming profanities but he held me down firmly.

"Where's my money? That was mine and you know it! Give it back!" he demanded, amidst cries of 'Rape! Rape!' from me.

"I haven't got any money of yours! The old lady gave the money to me, remember?" I smiled slyly.

"It was supposed to go to me though!" he growled.

"Your proof, please?" I asked.

Kurenai sighed. "Kiba, get off Eira. Eira, give Kiba his money."

"Fine," we both grumbled. He got off me and I stood up, dusting myself off. I began walking but the other two didn't follow me.

"Eira, just give him his money please," Kurenai told me, sounding worn out. "Honestly, it's like being in a monkey cage with you two!"

I stiffly walked back and took the money out of the pocket of my black hoodie and threw it at Kiba.

"You could have just done that in the first place," he muttered. I glared at him, an indication for him to shut the hell up.

"He's right, you know," Eriko barked, laughing. "Although it was funny."

I smirked and carried on walking, Kiba and Kurenai next to me with Akamaru and Eriko trotting along behind us.

We met up with Shino and Hinata in the training grounds soon afterwards. They looked like they'd been waiting round for a while.

"H-Hi, Eira, K-Kiba, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata stammered.

I was running around the training grounds when suddenly a tall guy appeared in front of me. He had glossy black hair with a weird haircut in the shape of a bowl, extremely thick eyebrows and was wearing a ridiculous tight green jumpsuit, over which was an unzipped flak jacket like the ones I'd seen other adults wear. He had orange leg warmers and his leaf headband was made of red cloth, despite everyone else I'd seen having blue headbands, and was tied around his waist like a belt.

"Um, can I help you?" I asked warily.

"Yes, I am Might Guy, Kohona's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!" he said, suddenly standing in a ridiculous pose. He was standing with his arm sticking out, giving the thumbs up sign and winking, flashing a smile with teeth so white I was sure I heard an audible 'ping!'.

"Yeah... So can I help you?" I repeated with one eyebrow raised.

"Lord Hokage wishes to see you," Guy told me.

"Oh okay then... You're weird," I stated bluntly, and his face fell.

"See you around," I added, flashing him a grin, once again showing my abnormally pointed teeth.

I ran to the Hokage's building and walked straight in, not bothering to knock at the door. The Hokage looked up from his work and raised his eyebrows.

"No knocking?" he asked.

"I don't like knocking. It's unnecessary since you would've just told me to come in anyway."

"Good point. Anyway, the rest of your team should be arriving soon, you're recieving a new mission." I nodded and leaned against a wall, bored, as Naruto's team, Team Seven, entered with their sensei. He looked interesting, with tall, spiky white hair, a lopsided forehead protector that covered his left eye and a mask obscuring the lower part of his face. He looked fairly young, 27 at most, and wore a very calm expression.

I stayed leaning against the wall, not bothering to pay attention as the Hokage explained what Team Seven's mission was. Naruto suddenly captured my attention by exploding.

"No, No, NO! I want to go on a real mission! Find us a better one!"

Iruka stood up from his place and started yelling at him. "You idiot! You're just a rookie! Everyone starts off with simple duties and works their way up!"

"But we keep getting crappy duties!" Naruto whined.

Their sensei hit Naruto on the top of his head. "Put a sock in it," he drawled.

"Seems like I have to explain how the duties work," the Hokage sighed in exhasperation. I tuned out again as he explained how A to D ranked missions worked. Kurenai had already explained this to us.

"Listen!" the Hokage yelled, capturing my attention. I looked up to see Naruto with his back to the Hokage, muttering something about ramen. I smirked. Despite his idiocy, he had some guts to blatantly ignore the Hokage.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head; but then he burst out.

"You're always lecturing me!" he whined. "But I'm not that trouble-making brat anymore! I'm a ninja now, and I want a real ninja mission!" he crossed his arms and pouted.

Their sensei had a look of desperation on his face.

"I'm definitely going to hear about this later..." he mumbled.

"Very well then," the Hokage said, amused. "If you think you're up for it.. I'll give you a C-rank mission."

Everyone, including me, looked up at him in surprise. I looked at the Hokage curiously, wondering his motives. "You will be protecting and escorting someone home safely."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Naruto grinned triumphantly. "Who are we guarding? A princess? An important councillor? A feudal lord?"

I almost laughed at that.

"There's no need to be so impatient," he told the determined knucklehead. "You can meet him now. Send in our visitor!"

I heard a slurred voice and watched as an old, red-faced man entered, holding a half-empty bottle of sake.

"What? A bunch of kids?" he exclaimed. I almost laughed when he said that. The poor guy obviously expected some top anbu escorts. If so, he shouldn't have really ranked it a C. "They all look like brats!"

He took a long swig of his sake then looked at Naruto. "Especially the short one with the stupid looking face," he continued harshly. "Do you expect me to believe that you're a ninja?"

Naruto laughed stupidly.

"Who's the shortest one with the stupid looking face?" he asked dumbly. Sasuke and Sakura moved closer to him, showing that both were taller than him. After a few minutes he realised that the insult was directed at him.

"I'll kill you!" he shrieked, but his sensei grabbed him by his collar.

"You can't kill the client, idiot," he informed an infuriated Naruto. "We're supposed to be protecting him, remember?"

The drunken man looked at their team with disapproval.

"I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder, and I must return to my land. and I expect you to provide me with high-quality protection and protect me with your lives!" he declared, both haughtily and arrogantly.

This guy was beginning to annoy me. I wished my team would just come already.

"I wish I could go, now," I said. Heads swivelled round to look at me; they obviously hadn't noticed I had been observing the scene the entire time. "It sounds more interesting than what mission I'll be given.."

"Well, why don't you then? There's four people on your team and you only had the simple task of baby sitting an elder's grandson. The other three could take care of that." the Hokage smiled at me.

"Really?" I asked, suddenly delighted. A mission without Kiba? An interesting one too! I was over the moon. The Hokage nodded.

"Awesome." I walked over to Team Seven and flashed a grin at Tazuna. He backed away slightly when he saw how sharp my teeth were, and I laughed.

"Alright, we'll meet at the entrance in an hour," their sensei informed us. "I'm Kakashi by the way," he added, talking directly to me. "And you?"

"Eira," I replied, before turning and walking out with Naruto behind me. We went into the house, still as messy as ever, and I ran up to my room and got ready.

I couldn't believe I was going on a mission with Team Seven, that the Hokage would actually LET me. Well this was going to be interesting..

There's chapter three xD I didn't quite plan on her going on the mission with team seven, I just ended up typing it O_O at least it's a little more interesting than sending you on a boring trip full of baby sitting, cat feeding, weed picking and other boring missions Team 8 had to endure. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review and tell me what you think! ^^


	5. Chapter 4

I changed into a black top ending where my ribs ended with off the shoulder short sleeves. I wore fishnet underneath covering my stomach and lower back, ending a couple of inches above knee-length black shorts revealing a couple of inches of my stomach and back. I was wearing, as usual, my black combat boots. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, and the first couple of times Kiba had spoken to me flashed through my mind. He'd called me good looking and gorgeous.

I wasn't particularly gorgeous. I was pretty sure that most people's idea of good looking was tall, curvy, tanned, stylish, blonde and large-cleavaged with boys drooling over them everywhere they went.

On the other hand, there were people like me.

I had long, straight black hair and ordinary blue eyes. I had an unusual dress sense that was mainly black, white and red and was small and skinny. I had fairly ordinary-sized breasts and there was nothing particularly special about me.

Then again, Kiba would hit on Eriko if he knew I wouldn't beat him up.

With those thoughts in mind, I packed my weapons pouch with senbons, shurikens and kunais. I didn't bring anything else since it was only a C-Rank mission, nothing that required any better weapons.

"Eira! Are you ready?" Naruto's obnoxiously loud voice sounded. I didn't bother to answer but just moments later he yelled my name again.

"EIRA! Can you hear me?"

"I think the whole street can hear you, Naruto. Shut up!" I shouted back. I strapped my weapon holster round my leg over my knee-length shorts and headed downstairs, where Naruto dived on me.

"Naruto! Get off me!" I shrieked as I fell backwards onto the bottom step, nearly falling on Eriko, who dodged out of the way with a yelp.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly, jumping up, then resumed his usual hyperactiveness.

"Come on!" he practically screamed. I sighed, deciding not to lose my temper, and headed out of the door, tying my headband loosely around my neck as I went.

Naruto followed, bouncing along beside me as I walked like a normal person. Naruto literally... Bounced.

We walked towards the entrance of the village where Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke were waiting with the bridge builder.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

"What are you so excited about?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Because we're finally going on a real mission! And I've never been outside the village before!" he was practically foaming at the mouth with excitement.

Tazuna jabbed his finger at Naruto.

"How am I supposed to feel safe with this idiot?" he demanded.

"Well, I'm a jounin, so you have no need to worry," Kakashi replied apologetically.

"Hey, never insult a ninja! Especially because I'm one of the greatest ninja ever, and I'm gonna be Hokage someday, and you'll have to look up to me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, remember it!" Naruto declared. I raised my eyebrows.

"Keep dreaming," I muttered, resisting the urge to laugh. Only Sasuke, who was closest to me, heard and smirked in response.

"The Hokage is the leaf village's number one elite ninja, right? The day you become Hokage is the day that I'll sprout wings and fly," Tazuna retorted, snorting.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to become Hokage! Then everyone, including you, will finally respect me!" Naruto said determinedly.

"Pft! You can become the ruler of the world for all I care. To me, you'll still be a nobody!" Tazuna replied. Okay, that was a little harsh.

Naruto growled in anger and frustration.

"I'm gonna kill you!" he screamed, whilst, yet again, being held back by Kakashi.

"I told you already! We're supposed to protect the client, idiot. That's the whole point of the mission!"

I trailed behind everyone, studying the leaves on the trees, utterly bored of this conversation.

"Um.. Mr Tazuna?" Sakura asked timidly, breaking the silence.

"What?" he said, not unkindly.

"You're from the land of waves, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

Without replying, Sakura turned to Kakashi and directed her next question at him.

"Aren't there ninja in the land of Waves Kakashi Sensei?"

"No, there aren't any ninja there," he replied, shaking his head. "But in other countries, there are Hidden Villages full of ninja, each with their own individual cultures."

Sakura nodded slowly, not quite understanding, so Kakashi decided to elaborate. In spite of myself, I couldn't help listening in. It would be useful to know. He pulled out a map from his pack and began explaining. Soon I realised how uninteresting his lecture was and stopped listening, contenting myself with staring intently at Sasuke until he felt my gaze and turned around, to which I quickly looked away. He turned back around, confusion clear on his face, to which I silently laughed and did it a few more times.

"Does anyone else feel like they're being watched?" Sasuke asked after I'd done that to him at least six times. I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing, as Eriko spluttered into her strange dog-laughs, that sounded almost like coughing. They turned around and looked at us strangely as I stood there doubled over with laughter.

I had no idea what I found so funny. It was such a stupid and immature joke that I wouldn't normally play but I, somehow, happened to find it incredibly funny.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke inquired with a scowl. I just looked away and shook my head. They all turned back around and carried on walking, deciding not to ask.

We had been walking for a while when suddenly I spotted a puddle on the ground. Strange, it hadn't rained in days, or even weeks, which was obvious due to the dry, cracked, water-deprived ground.

"Um.. Kakashi.. Dude.." I began quietly, as Eriko growled, noticing it as well.

"Ignore it. Go join the others," he instructed me almost silently. I didn't usually take orders from people but I understood that it was important and walked forwards to catch up with the others as Kakashi fell back slightly behind us.

Suddenly, I sensed something behind us. I pretended not to notice it, instead choosing to react a couple of seconds later as Kakashi cried,

"What?"

I almost laughed when he said that whilst feigning surprise. As if he didn't know already.

Two giant chains wrapped around Kakashi as one of the ninja shouted "Do it!"

The both pulled on their chains, squeezing Kakashi and ripping him to pieces. Sakura screamed, not knowing it was a substitution.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto cried.

How could they not realise it was a substitution? As if a jounin level ninja would let himself get caught that easily. He had obviously made a substitution when he fell back and then pretended not to notice the puddle.

"Now it's your turn," one of the ninja hissed. I looked away from Kakashi's ripped-up clone to see the two ninja launch themselves at Naruto with their huge chains.

Naruto froze as they attacked.

Oh my... Seriously? I was about to intervene but Sasuke was one step ahead of me. He jumped into the air and pulled out a shuriken and a kunai, then launched the shuriken at the chains with good aim and pinned them against a tree trunk. After that he threw the Kunai in the middle of the shuriken to secure it.

One of the ninja growled with frustration when he realised his arms, being attached to the chains by the giant metal claw holding the chain, were now rendered immobile. Sasuke landed on the ninja, one foot on each of their claws.

He then kicked furiously in their faces, sending them flying backwards. As they flew backwards the claws snapped from the chains, freeing them. They leapt away and then headed for Naruto. I wondered why they constantly targeted him. Maybe they'd just decided he was the weakest of the four of us.

Suddenly I realised the second one had changed course and was heading for Tazuna. I realised Sakura couldn't do much on her own as she stood protectively in front of Tazuna, so I jumped in beside her, whipping a shuriken and kunai out of my weapon pouch and preparing to attack.

'Why didn't I bring better weapons?' I thought, cursing.

"Stay back, old man," I told Tazuna. I didn't particularly like this guy. At all.

Suddenly Sasuke leapt in front of me, but before he could do anything a strong arm reached out and grabbed the ninja by his neck. I noticed he'd grabbed the other one, then he took care of them quickly. I wasn't particularly thrilled that Sasuke had leapt in front of me. He should have gone and saved Naruto; did he really think I was that incapable of dealing with enemies?

"Kakashi Sensei!" Sakura cried with relief. I looked at hers and Naruto's delighted faces with my eyebrows raised in disbelief. Had they actually not realised the other Kakashi had been a clone? Their sensei seemed quite laid back and... Well, if I was honest, a little strange in a funny way, but he certainly wasn't an idiot. Unlike some..

I shot Naruto a look when I thought that.

Naruto was a nice kid and all and I respected his determination, but he sure was... There was no other way to say it. Stupid.

"Huh? But he... Ohh..." Naruto realised. Everyone looked over at what used to be bloody chunks of Kakashi's ripped up body, but was now a bunch of logs.

"Sorry I didn't help you right away Naruto," Kakashi told him breezily. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt, I just wasn't expecting you to freeze up like that."

I side-glanced at Tazuna, hearing him sigh with relief, and narrowed my eyes suspiciously. If this was a C Rank mission.. Why were there ninja attacking us? This was no C Rank mission at all. There was something more to this; much more.

"Good job Sasuke. You too girls," Kakashi praised. Sakura beamed whilst I just stared at the sky, watching the clouds pass. Believe it or not, this was a very entertaining thing to do. I'd seen that lazy Shikamaru do it a lot.

I watched as Naruto stood up slowly, anger plain on his face. I wasn't sure why but it seemed to be directed at Sasuke.

"Hey," Sasuke began, not looking at him, then he turned to look him in the eye.

"You're not hurt are ya?... Scaredy Cat!" he taunted, a smirk on his face. Naruto glared at him, growling with rage.

"Grrrr, Sasuke!"

Kakashi stopped Naruto before he boiled over with anger.

_Hey, this one looks like a duck,_ I thought, staring at the clouds dreamily.

"Mr Tazuna, we need to have a little talk," Kakashi said grimly, snapping me out of my daydreams and capturing my attention as Kakashi tied the two ninjas to a tree, so I walked over.

"They look like Chunins from the Village Hidden In the Mist," Kakashi stated. "They specialise in restless attack, and have been taught to keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice may be."

"How did you know about our movements?" one of the ninja asked. Kakashi looked at me.

"Care to explain, Eira?"

I looked at him curiously but obliged anyway.

"Why would there be a puddle on a sunny day like this? The ground is dry and it hasn't rained in weeks, so how could there possibly be a puddle? It's fairly obvious, right guys?" I looked at my team and they all nodded vigorously, even though they'd had no idea. Well, Sasuke might've. Probably not though. I'd noticed he was quick to act and quite observant; in the Academy his clone jutsu held the most intricate of details that nobody else would have noticed, probably not even Iruka himself, since it was likely he had only been testing us on the basics. I was actually surprised Sasuke hadn't noticed the puddle.

Tazuna looked at Kakashi questioningly, whilst the two Mist ninja looked almost shame-faced.

"If you knew, then why'd you leave the brats to fight them?"

"I could have taken them out quickly... But then I wouldn't have learned who their real target was. I had to know what they were after," Kakashi replied thoughtfully.

"What are you getting at?" Tazuna spat, glaring, knowing he was being accused.

"I wanted to know if they were attacking us, or you, the person we're supposed to protect," Kakashi answered coolly. A bead of sweat gathered on Tazuna's forehead as he looked at Kakashi's calm face - well, the part of his face we could see, which was technically just the upper right part - and tapped the ends of his fingers on both hands together nervously.

"Our job was to protect you against robbers and highway men," Kakashi continued calmly. "When you put in your request, you never told us there were ninja out to get you. If we'd have known that, this would have been a B Rank mission or higher. Our job was simply to get you home safely and protect you whilst you finish building the bridge.

"If we'd have known that you were being targeted by ninja, you would've been given a stronger team and you would have been charged for a B Rank.

"I'm sure you have your reasons, but lying to us about the mission causes a lot of problems. We are now operating outside of our duties."

Tazuna looked extremely guilty now, as Sakura stepped forwards.

"We are only Genin, this is too advanced for us," she told him. "We should go back. Also we need to get Naruto's wound treated and get the poison taken out as soon as possible."

"I guess you're right.. We should get back, we need to get Naruto's wound treated quickly before the poison spreads," Kakashi said after thinking for a moment. "Naruto's hand could become a problem."

Naruto looked down at his hand as we all averted our gazes to look at him. He then growled and whipped out a kunai and stabbed it into his wound. He gritted his teeth in pain as he twisted the kunai around in his hand. I stared, shocked. What the hell was he thinking? Was he mentally unstable or something?

I sighed and looked away as he was vowing something or other. Machoism, much?

"Look, Naruto, it was great how you got the poison out and all, but you'll die if you loose any more blood, seriously," Kakashi told him breezily in his usual laid back manner.

I kinda liked this guy. Why couldn't he be my sensei instead? Kurenai was nice enough but I liked Kakashi's attitude. It was funny in a weird way.

Naruto froze and stared at his hand, turning blue, as I started laughing. I had sure laughed a lot today.

I lay on the floor and watched the clouds again as Naruto began freaking out. I noticed Sasuke scrutinising me curiously, so I looked up and stared right back, almost threateningly, causing him to drop his gaze quickly.

"That's what I thought," I muttered to myself, smirking. Suddenly Naruto's freaking out began to drive me insane.

"Will you just shut up already?" I yelled, losing my temper. Everyone turned and looked at me, shocked. I'd been pretty good-tempered so far during this mission. It seemed they didn't all know about my short-tempered nastiness yet..

I turned and walked off in a huff.

We floated silently through the fog, the water gently rippling as we glided through it. We were all sitting in a wooden boat, and a man was standing at the back of the boat, rowing it. The motor was turned off so we didn't make a sound.

"This fog is so thick," Sakura sort of stage whispered. "I can't see anything at all."

"The bridge isn't too far now; the Land of Waves is just ahead," the boat man reassured us.

I yawned, bored.

"If this boat goes any slower we'll be going backwards!" I complained.

Suddenly the bridge came into sight through the vast layer of fog.

"Woah! It's huge!" Naruto gasped in awe.

"Quiet!" the boat man snapped quietly. "I said don't make any noise, didn't I? We're travelling with the motor off for a reason - so we can slip in silently!"

"Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi said, turning to the bridge builder. "I need you to tell us why those ninja were after you. If not, we may have to call off the mission as soon as we land."

"I guess I have no choice but to tell you then," Tazuna sighed. "Wait, scratch that, I want to tell you.

"Like you said earlier, this is outside your duties. The person who seeks to have me murdered is a very small man. I'm sure you will have heard of him before."

"Who is he?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"He's one of the wealthiest men in the world. Gato, the wealthy shipping magnate; the man in charge of Gato Transport."

Kakashi looked shocked whilst the rest of us just looked confused, not having the slightest idea of who he was.

"Gato? But everyone knows who he is! He's a business leader!" he exclaimed.

"I don't know who he is! Who is he?" Naruto asked, but was ignored.

"Yes, Gato is a very powerful and famous - Though you could say infamous - tycoon, true. But he secretly sells drugs and other illegal items. He uses gangs and ninja to take over businesses... And countries.

"It was about a year ago when he first set his sight on the Land of Waves. He took control of our transport and shipping, and anyone who stood in his way or tried to stop him would mysteriously disappear. In a small island nation like our own, a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, government, our very lives!" Tazuna says, sounding angry and disgusted. "But he fears one thing - the bridge I am in charge of building. When it's completed, it will connect our village to the mainland, and that will break all of the control he has over us. So, he hired ninja to go after me and get rid of the threat that comes from my bridge."

"So that means those guys who tried to ambush us in the forest were working for Gato..." I said, making it sound more like a statement than a question. I didn't think Naruto quite understood, and rolled my eyes. It was pretty simple. Nasty man take over country and try to kill little man who build bridge because bridge is scary and will take away nasty man's power.

How hard can it be?

"Wait, if you knew that he was dangerous and that he'd send ninja after you, why didn't you tell us and request a B Rank mission?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Gato has us bankrupt.. We were never a very rich village any way but Gato has literally stripped us of our money," Tazuna replied sadly. "We couldn't possibly afford to pay for a higher ranked mission than a C Rank. If you end the mission when we reach land, there will be no bridge. They will almost definitely assassinate me before I reach home."

We all looked at him as he continued.

"But don't worry about that!" he said, feigning cheerfulness. "Sure my little grandson will cry and call for his beloved grandfather. But I'm sure he'll get over that one day! Or maybe he won't. And sure my daughter will condemn the ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village and blame you for my death, living the rest of her life in misery. But I wouldn't worry about that, it's not your fault."

I glared at Tazuna. He was milking it. The rest of my temporary team totally bought it though and exchanged guilty looks. Well, not so much Sasuke; he just contented himself with glaring. As usual.

"Okay," Kakashi said with a ahrug, even though, like me, he knew perfectly well what Tazuna was up to. "I guess we'll have to continue guarding you."

"Ooh, much obliged," Tazuna smiled triumphantly.

"Huh, knew it," I muttered. Once again, Sasuke was the only one to hear my mutterings and regarded me with a strange look.

"We're approaching the pier," the boat man told us as we passed through a tunnel.

When we floated out of the tunnel we were greeted by the sight of a small village completely surrounded by water. At least it wasn't foggy in the village.

When we pulled up and docked, we all climbed out of the boat and waved the boat man goodbye, as he turned on the motor and sped away.

"Oh, sure, he could have just done that in the first place!" I grumbled, even though I knew perfectly well exactly why we couldn't.

"Okay, take me home!" Tazuna said.

As we began walking, I looked up to see Kakashi sporting a troubled look. I knew what he was thinking about; he must have been worrying about the levels of ninja that could attack us now. They definitely wouldn't be Chunins now. They would more than likely be at Jounin level, which meant that only Kakashi would have a chance of defeating them. I once again cursed myself for not bringing better weapons and resources.

I noticed Naruto staring instensely at Sasuke, who was completely ignoring him. It was now clear that the two were rivals. Suddenly Naruto stopped and began scrutinising our surroundings before throwing a few kunai in different directions.

"There!" he threw a kunai at a nearby bush. After a pause, "Heh, it was just a rat."

"Naruto, stop trying to act cool you idiot!" Sakura raged.

"Naruto those Kunai are dangerous, they're not toys!" Kakashi told him sternly.

Suddenly I felt something nearby.

"There!" Naruto threw another Kunai into a different bush.

"I said stop Naruto!" Sakura screamed, hitting him.

"Something is following us I swear!" he cried, holding his head. He bounded over to the bushes where he'd just launched his kunai to reveal a snow rabbit, frozen with fear, the kunai having planted itself into a tree directly above it's head, between the petrified animal's ears.

"Naruto!" Sakura raged. "Look what you did! Are you okay little guy?" she asked, scooping it up into her arms.

Naruto took the bunny off her and pulled it into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm sorry little bunny rabbit! I didn't mean to scare you!"

I looked at the rabbit, suspicion clear in my eyes. Eriko's growl sounded like the motor on the boat as she glared at the rabbit. The rabbit still had it's winter coat, yet it wasn't winter any more. It was definitely a captive rabbit.. Used for substitution jutsus. Also, the rabbit wasn't even flinching, like ordinary rabbits should when they saw Eriko growling. Strange. I looked at Kakashi, who was also regarding the rabbit with suspicious eyes. He returned my look and nodded slightly, confirming my suspicions.

"You're a smart one," he murmured, before speaking to everyone.

"Look out!" he yelled. Everyone ducked and Eriko barked loudly, just as a huge sword came spinning out of the trees behind us. A tall, noticeably muscular man stepped out of the trees behind us, holding the hilt of the enormous sword.

The menacing-looking man had pale skin, although not as pale as mine, short spiky black hair, brown eyes and small eyebrows. He had bandages covering the lower part of his face like a mask. He was shirtless, his chest only covered by a belt, to which he must have attached his giant sword. He wore baggy striped pants and mimetic wristbands that extended up to his elbows with matching leg warmers. His headband, which I saw to be that of Kirigakure, was worn sideways on his head.

"Well, well.. If it isn't Zabuza Momoichi, rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village," Kakashi stated, walking towards him. Naruto, being stupid as usual, launched himself at the man, Zabuza, but was held back by Kakashi, who pushed him back with his hand.

"You're in the way, stay back," he told Naruto.

"But why?" Naruto asked angrily.

"Because," Kakashi said. "This guy isn't like the other ninja. He's on a whole different level."

Tazuna was paralysed with shock and fear. The four of us were quick to surround Tazuna, pulling out kunai as we did so.

I saw Kakashi's hand reach towards his headband and tensed. I'd never seen what was underneath his headband and was extremely curious now. Since I was guarding the back of Tazuna, I decided to do the most stupid thing. I leapt silently into the nearest tree, unnoticed by Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura or Tazuna and darted through a couple more trees quickly until I got a good view of Kakashi's front and Zabuza's back.

"If you're trying to catch me off guard, little girl, it's not going to work," Zabuza told me, without bothering to turn around, making Kakashi pause and look up, along with the surprised faces of Tazuna and the other genins. Kakashi had known I was there, yet, as usual, still pretended to be surprised. I wondered why...

"I'm not," I replied, smirking. "Just.. Observing. I was just getting a better view."

Without replying, Zabuza still looked at Kakashi, waiting for him to do something. Obliging, Kakashi reached up once more and slowly pulled up his head guard from his left eye, revealing...

"The sharingan," I whispered, eyes wide.


	6. Chapter 5

I gasped. Wasn't the Sharingan the Uchiha kekei genkai? How did he have it? Unless...

Was he an Uchiha?

No, he couldn't have been.. Then how...?

"Well... Looks like I get to see the sharingan in action. This is an honour." Zabuza sounded almost mocking.

"Everyone keeps saying sharingan sharingan! Will someone please tell me what sharingan is?" Naruto asked irritatingly. I sat down on a branch above Zabuza and glared at Naruto.

"Sharingan... A rare power. It resides in the eyes. The user of this jutsu can instantly see and comprehend any genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu, and reflect the attack back on the attacker. The sharingan is a special and rare form of dojutsu," Sasuke explained. " However, there's more to the sharingan than that. A lot more."

I wondered why he didn't say anything about the Uchiha clan...Then slapped my forehead. Duh! Because Zabuza was here. He didn't want Zabuza knowing of his abilities.

"You got it right, boy," Zabuza's statement was directed at Sasuke. "But you only scratched the surface. The sharingan can analyse an opponent's technique and then copy it to the smallest detail. As for you, jounin, in the assassination unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on sight. Your profile was in our bingo book. It called you 'The Man Who Copied Over a Thousand Jutsu'. Kakashi... The copy ninja."

My eyes widened. He was high in the bingo books? Was Kakashi really that powerful? I wouldn't have thought it upon first impression. He seemed quite laid back; and a bit weird, too, considering he acted surprised when the two chunin jumped out, even though he knew perfectly well they were there. He surely had his reasons though. I supposed, given his reaction to seeing Zabuza, he morphed into serious mode when in action. Also.. I recognised that name.. I couldn't pinpoint it though. Where had I heard that before?

"WOW, THAT'S SO COOL!" Naruto exclaimed, snapping me out of my thoughts. I sweat-dropped. Wrong moment, Naruto.

"Enough talking. I need to exterminate the old man... Now!" Zabuza narrowed his eyes, crouching.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura instantly surrounded Tazuna in a protective stance again, wielding kunai.

"So, I'll have to eliminate you first, eh, Kakashi?" Zabuza said. "So be it." He wrenched his sword out of the tree and jumped until he was standing a few metres away from the tree. I stayed in the tree, observing the scene. I was curious to see what the 'copy cat ninja' could do.

"He's over there!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Standing on the water!" Sakura added. What? I looked down at his feet and sure enough he was standing on water. He was doing a handsign, one hand with his fingers over his lips and one hand up in the air, two fingers pointing towards the sky. He seemed to be building up chakra as it swirled around him.

"Ninja art, hidden mist jutsu!" Zabuza suddenly faded into nonexistence as the chakra faded with him.

"He vanished!" Naruto said with disbelief.

"Congratulations, captain obvious," I retorted, causing them to look up with surprise. They'd obviously forgotten I was in a tree.

"Really, guys? You didn't know I was here again? Am I really that small?" I asked, sweatdropping, making Sasuke smirk. Then Kakashi walked forwards.

"Sensei!" Sakura cried.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi informed us.

"But.. who is he?"

"Zabuza Momochi, leader of the Hidden Mist assassination unit. He's the master of the silent killing technique."

"Silent? Even with that big ass sword of his?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, silent. It's as it suggests," Kakashi explained patiently when Naruto exclaimed 'silent?'. "It happens in an instant, without any sound or warning of any kind. It's so fast you pass from this life without even realising what has happened. The sharingan cannot fully neutralise it, so don't lower your guard," he warned. Naruto and Sakura looked frightened whilst Sasuke looked kinda bored.

"Well, if we fail, we only lose our lives," Kakashi added. Woah, how cheerful.

"How can you say that?" Sakura asked angrily. I looked around to notice that the mist was quickly getting thicker, to the point where I could just about see the four of them, even though I was pretty close. Goose bumps rose on my arms as I shivered, feeling the slightly damp cold of the mist encasing me. Eriko whimpered beside me, not liking the feeling of the mist either.

"The mist is getting thicker and thicker!" Naruto cried.

"The land of waves is surrounded by ocean. The swirling mists are ever present," Tazuna explained gruffly.

"Sensei!" Sakura cried.

"Eight points," Zabuza's menacing voice sounded. Sakura jumped with fright.

"What's that?" she cried.

"Legs, spine, lungs, liver, jugular," Zabuza listed. His voice seemed to be getting quieter as he listed them, to the point where I couldn't hear the last three listed. I normally had strangely dog-like senses.

_Can the mist block out sound or is it just me?_ I wondered.

"Arf!" Eriko said quietly beside me. Looks like I wasn't the only one.

"Come on, Eriko," I whispered quietly, leaping down from the tree. Before I could do anything else I felt a genjutsu about to encase me. I quickly put my hands together in a hand sign.

"Release," I said quietly, breaking the genjutsu before leaping away. I watched, hidden, as Zabuza stood behind the five of them, ready to leap in the middle of them. I threw a well-aimed kunai but he caught it without even turning around. My eyes widened._ I should have realised.. He was a jounin. Duh!_ I smacked my head in frustration. I really was losing it. That mist... it seemed to have fuzzed my mind up, broke my concentration. _Weird. It hasn't happened to the others..._

"Nice try, little girl," he said mockingly.

"Shut it," I growled. I turned around, intending to run, but then I felt a kunai pierce my back. And another one.

"I didn't even hear them coming!" I gasped in surprise. "How did he do that? Even if he is a silent killer..." I broke off, wincing in pain as another kunai stabbed me in the back.

I fell to the floor with a gasp.

Thanks for reading :D Sorry it's short, I didn't a lot of time to write because I got distracted for like, two hours :L Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think!

P.S. If you haven't noticed already, when I write in italics it means she's thinking

Unless it's a dream or flashback, which we'll come to later on. :B


	7. Chapter 6

I opened my eyes slowly. Where was I? I felt myself bobbing up and down, my feet weren't touching the floor, and I could see the floor beneath me as I was looking downwards. Then I realised I was being carried. I saw the blue shirt and white shorts and growled.

"Put me down Sasuke!" I grumbled.

"Hn."

"Seriously, get off!" I started kicking my legs and flailing my arms to no avail. It was pretty hopeless since he'd slung me over his shoulder. I growled in annoyance as Naruto snickered. I began hitting his back with my fists but then I felt his hand slam into the back of my neck. _Well done, smartass. You know of a pressure point,_ I thought, before slipping into unconsciousness.

I opened one eye slowly, worried that I'd find myself being carried again, but realised I wasn't moving. I was lying in a bed. I sat up abruptly, ignoring a sharp pain in my back. I felt my back to realise I wasn't wearing my shirt, just the netted material I had been wearing underneath. Instead of my top I wore layers of bandages wrapped around my chest and upper back, down to where my ribs ended.

"Lay down, Eira, you're not well," Sakura told me gently. I ignored her and stood up, pretending not to notice the searing pain in my back. Sakura sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to make me lie down again.

We walked out to see Naruto, Sasuke and Tazuna standing around. Apparently they were allowed to see Kakashi now.

"Wait, what happened to him?" I asked curiously.

"We'll explain later," Sakura replied, as the five of us rushed in to the room.

"Look, the sensei's coming around!" Naruto exclaimed thankfully. Sakura walked over and kneeled by Kakashi's bed.

"Listen, Sensei, your sharingan is amazing and everything, but if it put that much strain on you, maybe it's not worth it?" Ah, now I understood. He'd used his sharingan too long. Strange, I didn't know the sharingan did that. Maybe it was just him?

"Sorry," was Kakashi's weary reply.

"Huh, well, he did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins to we'll be safe for a while," Tazuna stated. He took Zabuza down? He looked like a pretty tough guy. Impressive.. I thought.

"Yeah, but we wouldn't need to be assured that we're safe if you weren't a dirty liar," I muttered quietly. Once again only Sasuke heard me. I could have sworn I saw him laughing. Did he have some sort of supersonic hearing? I was closer to Naruto than him, yet he still heard me.

"Right, but.. that boy with the mask, what about him?" Sakura replied to Tazuna. What boy with the mask?

My curiosity got the better of me as I listened carefully.

"He's from the elite tracking unit of the village hidden in the mist," Kakashi told her. "Those masks are only worn by the most elite shinobi."

"What exactly do they do?"

"The ANBU black ops, also known as the inferno squad, destroy all traces of a ninja's corpse. The shinobi's body contains many secrets. Ninjutsu, chakra, special medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village. If his enemies find them, his village will be in grave danger. For instance, if I were to die at the hands of an enemy, he would try to analyse my sharingan. In the worst case, my entire jutsu could be stolen and used against our village. It is the sacred duty of the shinobi trackers to prevent this, to keep the village secrets safe. If a ninja betrays his village the trackers hunt him down, eliminate him and obliterate every trace of his existence. That's their specialty."

We pondered his words for a few minutes silently.

"Hey, are you okay? Sensei?" Naruto asked, concerned. I looked up from my daydreams to see Kakashi holding his head, seemingly in pain. Either that or he was thinking hard about something or other. I watched him curiously. The four of us were sitting at the foot of Kakashi's bed; me, Naruto and Sasuke had our legs crossed whilst Sakura was sitting on her feet. I was sat between Sasuke and Sakura, much to Sakura's annoyance, with Eriko sitting on my lap.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked up. "Oh, yeah. So as I was saying, tracker ninja deal with the body immediately, on the spot, so there's no room for error."

"Is that really important?" Sakura asked. Of course it is, stupid, I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Think about it. Do you remember what that tracker did with Zabuza's body?" I listened closely now, since I hadn't a clue what had happened.

"We don't know what he did.. I mean, I guess he took it away somewhere," Sakura replied. I looked at her sharply when she said that. A tracker ninja wouldn't normally do that..

"Exactly, but why? He should have worked on Zabuza right there, as quickly as possible. Think of the weapons he used for the take-down. Do you remember what they were?" Kakashi was obviously trying to get us to realise something whilst pondering over it himself.

"Thowing needles... No way!" Sasuke realised. I caught on when he said that.

"Exactly.. none of it adds up," Kakashi replied, thinking hard.

"What are you all yabbering about? You demolished that assassin!" Tazuna cut in.

"Is yabbering even a word?" I asked, making everyone glance at me increduously, no doubt wondering how I could be thinking about that at the present time.

"Here's the truth; Zabuza's still alive," Kakashi said bluntly.

"HAH?" Sakura's, Naruto's and Tazuna's faces displayed complete shock and surprise, their jaws dropping. The girl in the room, who I was told was Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, gasped slightly, her eyes going wide.

"But we saw his body, believe it!" Naruto shook his fists.

"Kakashi-Sensei you checked him yourself, you said that his heart stopped!"

"His heart did stop. But that was just a temporaty state, to simulate death. The weapons that tracker used were called senbon. They pierce deeply but rarely kill unless they hit a vital organ - not in the neck. They're modified for needles used for medical treatments like acupuncture," Kakashi explained gravely. "Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body, causing the heart to stop temporarily while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them. First, he carried Zabuza's body away, even though he's much heavier than he is. Second, he used senbon which have a precise effect, but are rarely fatal. From these two factors, we can conclude that the tracker wasn't trying to destroy Zabuza, he was trying to save him."

"Come on, you're over-thinking this, aren't you?" Tazuna tried to reason.

"We're ninja. We're supposed to over-analyse," I told him, sighing.

"She's right," Kakashi said. "Encountering suspicion, the ninja prepares quickly. Hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying."

I glanced at Naruto who seemed to be shaking with excitement, grinning determinedly. Hm, he's pleased to know Zabuza's alive. Well, good, I really wanna get back at him..

"Sensei, you said 'prepare quickly', but how can we do that when you can barely move?" Sakura asked.

"She's got a point.." I stated thoughtfully. Kakashi suddenly laughed.

"Huh?" Sakura looked confused, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"I can still train you."

"Hold on! A little last-minute training isn't going to make us strong enough to fight Zabuza! You could barely defeat him, even with your sharingan! We have to be reasonable about this!" Sakura exclaimed angrily.

"Sakura, why was I able to stop Zabuza? Because, you all helped me. You've grown. Naruto, you've grown the most," he praised with a closed-eye smile. Naruto's eyes widened slightly and he chuckled a little, obviously pleased.

"So you noticed, Kakashi-sensei? Now things are gonna get better, believe it!"

I heard footsteps behind us as a voice cried, "I don't believe it, and nothing's gonna be good!"

"Huh?" Everyone spun round to see a small boy standing there scowling. He only looked about seven or eight, and wore brown sandals, a pale creamy yellow shirt with a high collar, green dungarees and a little hat with two blue stripes on it. He had spiky brown hair and dark eyes.

"Who are you?" Naruto yelled obnoxiously, pointing to the small figure.

"Ah, Inari, where've you been?" Tazuna exclaimed, holding his arms out.

"Welcome back, Grandpa!" the little boy, Inari, ran into his grandfather's arms and hugged him. Tsunami put her hands on her hips.

"Inari, that was very rude!" she scolded. "These ninja helped your grandpa and brought him here safely."

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm rude to them too!" Tazuna stroked Inari's head whilst saying this.

"Oh, so that justifies it, does it?" I asked, with a scowl.

"Mom, don't you see, these people are gonna die! Gato and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out!" Inari cried.

"What'd you say, brat?" Naruto screeched angrily, his fists clenched. "Listen up! you know what a super ninja is? Well that's me, only a lot better! I'm gonna be Hokage. This Gato or Glato or whatever he's called is no match for a real hero like me!"

"Huh, there's no such thing as a hero," Inari scoffed, looking at the floor. "You're just full of stupid ideas!"

"WHAT'D YOU SAY?"

"Naruto calm down!" Sakura grabbed a furious Naruto before he could lunge himself at the little boy. I could understand his anger, the kid had some cheek to say that.

"If you wanna stay alive you should go back where you came from." With that Inari walked out of the room. He'd sure caused a scene..

"Inari, wait, where are you going?" Tazuna stopped him.

"To look out at the ocean, I wanna be alone!" Inari replied, sliding the doors apart. Naruto was still seething with anger, Sakura holding him back, whilst Sasuke and I sat in crouching postures on either side of them, observing the scene.

"Sorry about that," Tazuna apologised.

"Naruto, wait!" I called as he stormed up the stairs.

"Who does that brat think he is? I'm gonna put him in his place right now!" I sighed and followed him as he reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hallway with his fists clenched.

"Huh?" we both stopped when we heard choked sobs coming from Inari's room. We cautiously approached the door and peeked around it to see Inari sitting on the desk with his back to us by his window, sobbing his heart out.

"No, daddy, no!" he cried, tears pouring down his cheeks. I kind of felt bad for the kid.

"Alright, training starts now!" Kakashi declared.

"Right!" Naruto sounded pretty confident. We were outside in the trees, and Kakashi was leaning on crutches for support. Tsunami had told me to stay and rest but I'd refused, using a jutsu that acted as a painkiller. A friend of mine once upon a time had been a medic ninja and taught me a couple of tricks in medical ninjutsu.

"First, we will begin with a review of chakra, the ninja's basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential."

"We know that," Sasuke said boredly, a hand on his hip.

"He's right, a long time ago we learned about.. uh.. catra!" You can guess who said that.

"Chakra," Kakashi corrected, his head slumped hopelessly. "Go ahead Sakura."

"Alright Naruto, I'll explain it simply, so even you can understand it," Sakura stated, her hands on her hips. I smirked as she pulled out a scroll. "Chakra is the element of life energy a ninja uses in jutsu. It's the source of all his power. Now this energy has two forms, physical energy consists of all the cells in the entire body all working together, and spiritual energy, the primary source of power which is intensified through training and experience. As you see..."

She droned on and on, and so I got bored and sat on a log a few metres behind Naruto and Sasuke. Eventually she shut up as Kakashi praised her, saying that Iruka had excellent students. Sure, sure.

"What's the big deal with all these complicated explanations?" Naruto burst out. He had a point, they were pretty annoying. "The whole point is to learn the jutsu isn't it?" I take my previous comment back.

"Naruto's right for once. We're already using chakra energy in our jutsu," Sasuke stated.

"No, you've not mastered this power, you've only scratched the surface of it."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Naruto cried in frustration.

"Calm down and listen. It's just like Sakura said; you have to draw on physical and spiritual energies and combine them within yourself. But, how do you do that? Each jutsu requires different types of chakra..."

I zoned out again as he went on to explain balancing and controlling chakra. Or something like that anyway. I stared up at the clouds again to see a cloud in the shape of a butterfly.

"Pretty butterfly.." I murmured, staring up at the sky dreamily.

"What?" Sasuke turned to look at me.

"Nothing! Do you have ultra-hearing or something?"

"...No, I just listen more than Naruto."

"Whatever."

I began listening again when Kakashi said something about putting our lives on the line.

"But… what do we have to do?" Sakura asked.

"Climb a tree."

"CLIMB A TREE?" the four of us exclaimed. I stood up suddenly.

"That's right. But, there's just one rule - no hands."

"What? You're kidding," Sakura said in disbelief. I almost laughed. Of course he wasn't.

"Am I? Let's see," he did a handsign and directed chakra towards his feet before limping over to a tree. He casually began walking up the tree vertically as if he was walking on the ground. The three stared in shock whilst I just laughed. I already knew how to do that. Kakashi walked along a branch and was now standing upside down from a branch.

Kakashi then went on into a detailed explanation of how to climb a tree.

Before he was even finished, I quickly did a hand sign and focused chakra towards my feet, walking over to a tree before climbing right to the top and sitting on a branch, my legs dangling.

"WHAAA-" Naruto began.

"I know stuff," I said simply.

Naruto whipped out a kunai and declared something about being ready. Well this was going to be interesting...


	8. Chapter 7

Team seven closed their eyes, performing a hand seal, focusing hard. I would have gone off somewhere with Eriko but I figured it would be entertaining watching them.

"I got it!" Naruto exclaimed, gripping his kunai. "Charge!" he ran at the tree in determination along with Sasuke and Sakura.

Inevitably, Naruto ran up the tree a couple of steps, but lost focus and fell flat on his back. Sasuke managed to run a good few metres up the tree. His chakra was a little too strong though, and his foot smashed into the tree, before he sliced the trunk with his kunai where he stopped and jumped back down before he fell. He was running up the tree that I was sitting in so I could see how high he was and compare it to where I was. _Impressive for his first try,_ I thought. That is, until I saw Sakura.

"Hey, this is fun!" she grinned. She was sitting on the first branch way up in the air. She started giggling, delighted that she'd beat the two boys at something. I smirked. She seemed to have the best chakra control; she could do well as a medic ninja. I jumped and swung past Naruto's tree and landed on the branch beside Sakura, as the other three stared at Sakura, surprised.

"Well, looks like the female member of the group is the most advanced in chakra-control," Kakashi praised. "Not including Eira," he added. "Well done Sakura."

Sakura was over the moon, beaming successfully. I couldn't blame her. After all, Sasuke was apparently the best of his generation, and Naruto was praised by Kakashi earlier, supposedly having grown the most out of the three.

"Yeah, way to go Sakura! I always knew you were awesome, believe it!" Naruto praised. I snorted with laughter when I saw a huge bump had risen on his head.

"Whatever," Sasuke muttered. Sakura looked crushed.

"I thought Sasuke would be impressed, but now he's mad at me!" She said quietly. "Why is it always like that?"

"Chill out, he's not that great-looking," I muttered, to which she jumped. Obviously, she hadn't known I could hear her. I was sitting right next to her! Not to mention my sharp senses.

"Oh-uh-um-" she stuttered. I just shook my head and looked at Kakashi.

"Wow, not only does Sakura understand chakra, she can control and maintain it as well," Kakashi stated.

"Hey, at least Kakashi's impressed," I told her, nudging her. _Why the hell am I even trying to make her feel better?_

"We spoke about someone becoming Hokage someday, didn't we?" Kakashi continued. "Seems Sakura's got the best chance of that, wouldn't you say?"

"Wait a minute.. Do I not exist?" I asked incredulously.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he smiled at me. "This is within Team Seven. I can see you also maintain and control chakra extremely well also; probably almost as well as myself." That was better. Wait, as well as himself? Dude, just because I can walk up a tree. "And as for the great Uchiha clan, maybe they're not so great after all.."

I knew Kakashi was trying to motivate the two, and it obviously worked. Naruto looked ticked off at the Hokage reference whilst Sasuke's brow furrowed in anger.

"That's enough, you talk too much sensei!" Sakura cried, pointing an accusing finger at her sensei. She was obviously worried about Sasuke hating her now for outshining him. Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other, their competitive sides kicking in.

"Alright! First I'll match Sasuke. Then I'm going all the way to the top! Believe it!" Naruto cried in determination. Suddenly I spotted little Inari peeking around a tree behind Sasuke and Naruto. I jumped down from the branch and quickly took a detour on the outskirts of the clearing until I came up behind Inari.

"Huh, what a waste of time, they don't know what they're up against!" he said to himself, clenching his fists angrily. Suddenly he noticed me watching him.

"And what do you want?" he demanded angrily.

"Oh, nothing," I smirked. "...Stalker."

I turned round and disappeared when I heard Inari hiss and clench his fists. I felt sorry for him, sure, but I couldn't resist getting in that jab.

"Gah! Ugh!" Naruto was practically screaming with frustration as he fell off the tree again. Sasuke was half kneeling, panting, whilst Sakura was doing the same, leaning against her own tree. They'd been doing this all day and were starting to bore me to death now because Kakashi hadn't made it essential that I joined in since I wasn't even a part of their squad and I already had experience.

Sakura had stopped for a while, figuring she didn't want to push herself, but the other two just carried on going, driven by determination.

"Owww!" Naruto complained, rubbing his head. The bump on his head had expanded to twice the size it was before. I wasn't entirely sure if that was even possible...

He didn't seem to be making progress at all. I could tell from the look on Sakura's face that she expected him to give up at any moment, but he didn't seem the type. Naruto was more the type who was driven by determination, not ready to give up easily. Or so I assumed, anyway.

"GAH!" Naruto screamed, before walking over to me. I was sitting on the floor a few metres behind them with my legs crossed, playing with Eriko.

"Huh?"

"Uh, uh, well, you're good at this. How about some advice?" he asked. I stared at him. "But please don't tell Sasuke I asked. Please, please!"

"I won't be much help," I muttered. "Go ask Sakura."

He looked a bit crestfallen but nodded and went over to Sakura. I walked away and stood next to Kakashi.

"He's catching on," Kakashi murmured to himself. "From now on he'll get stronger and stronger. How strong? After all, Naruto possesses more chakra than Sasuke and Eira. In fact, the amount of chakra he possesses is greater than my own..."

"What?" I stared at Kakashi in surprise.

"Oh, I forgot you could hear me... It's exactly as I said."

_More chakra than Kakashi? And Sasuke and I? This kid is strong... More powerful than I thought…_

Have to end it there, sorry D: Cause I have less than an hour and I want to write a new chapter of my other story too. I'll try and write the next chapter extra long to make up for it. As I said I'm getting bored of the Land of Waves arc, it lasts forever T_T I'll try and get through it as quickly as possible :D The chunin exams are more interesting.

Please vote, comment, fan, etc and thanks for reading :D


	9. Chapter 8

Sakura yawned loudly, half asleep. I didn't blame her, I was bored as well. We had been watching the construction workers as they built the bridge all day. Extremely uninteresting if you ask me.

"You always this lazy?" Tazuna, clad in builder's gear and carrying some sort of construction material on his shoulder. "Where's the annoying blond kid and the two kids with the attitude?"

"I'm right here," I stated dryly, stepping out from behind a random box I had been leaning against.

"Oh, uh.."

"They're training, climbing trees," Sakura intervened quickly, feeling the sudden awkwardness in the air.

"Except for you?" Tazuna asked, obviously relieved for the distraction.

"No, in fact, we're the best; that's why sensei sent us here to guard you," Sakura stated proudly.

"I love your modesty," I muttered, but she didn't hear me. Ugh. No one could appreciate my sarcasm when they couldn't hear me; that's the only reason I would have wanted Sasuke to be there at that moment.

"Seriously?" Tazuna looked at Sakura disbelievingly. That instantly sparked her scary side, which I'd been told about by Naruto. Her eyes bulged and she recieved an enraged anime vein on her forehead as she shook her fist. I rolled my eyes and watched as a worker walked over to Tazuna, who was placing the metal construction material he had been carrying with the rest of it.

"Tazuna? Um, I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" Tazuna asked.

"Thing is, I've been thinking about the bridge. And I've decided.. I've pushed my luck far enough, I wanna quit."

"W-Why all of a sudden? Not you too!" Tazuna cried.

"You know, I've carried on working because of our friendship; but I'm putting my life on the line every time I stay here! If I get involved, Gatoh and his men will come after me, too," the worker said sadly. "Everything will lose meaning if you die. Why don't we stop building this bridge whilst we can still get out alive?"

Sakura and I watched and listened to this exchange of words, surprise clear on our faces.

"No chance," Tazuna replied determinedly. "This is our bridge. Our island is poor, and it will stay that way until this bridge connects us to the mainland! Trade and hope - that's what we're building here!"

"There's not gonna be much hope if we're all dead."

"It's already noon. Let's break for lunch." Tazuna walked past the worker.

"Tazuna!"

"Save your breath. Oh, and, Giichi; don't bother coming back after lunch," Tazuna told him gruffly, before turning and walking away.

"Um, where are we going?" Sakura asked, looking around. We were trailing after Tazuna through a bustling street in the village. Naruto and Sasuke still hadn't returned from their training.

"You wanna eat tonight, don't you? I gotta pick up some things for dinner," Tazuna replied. I looked around at the people going about their daily business curiously, and my eyes saddened when I spotted a poor, thin man who didn't look very old, early thirties at most, holding up a sign that said 'Will do any kind of work'. I looked away when I heard cries of "Thief, Thief!" and caught sight of a small boy frantically running away, clutching a string of sasuges he had stolen from a butcher for all he was worth. Two other little boys sat not far off, their heads bent. They looked so poor...

The only thing that could ever make me feel compassionate towards anyone was misfortune for something they can't help. Gato must have done this to these poor people. Selfish, evil bastard.

We entered a tiny, under-stocked grocery store.

"Welcome," a man greeted in a feeble voice. I looked around to see that they had a seriously lousy supply of vegetables.

"This is a store? There's nothing here!" Sakura whispered to herself, looking around with a similar expression as my own.

"I know," I murmured, a little louder so she could hear me as well. She jumped when she realised I'd heard her.

"These poor people..." she said softly. Suddenly I heard someone come up behind us. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw a man wearing a green hat who had a funnily-shaped nose and a black moustache eyeing sakura's bag gleefully. It had the sort of strap that went across the body, so it was easier to carry and didn't require the owner to keep hold of the bag. I knew what he was planning as he chuckled evilly, but I smirked and decided to let Sakura's 'scary side' resurface. It was kind of funny; although I wouldn't have liked it to be directed at me.

His hand reached out but he accidentally clutched her backside as well as the bag, upon which Sakura froze and her eyes bulged angrily. Before I knew it, she'd turned round and kicked the guy in the face, sending him flying.

"YOU PERVERT!" she screamed.

"No! I was -gah!" the man realised his attempt to explain was fruitless, considering he'd get his ass kicked either way.

"Wow, you really surprised me back there. Girls around here don't fight like that," Tazuna said to Sakura, impressed. We were walking down the road again, having bought the groceries and left the store.

"They should! Something's seriously wrong here," Sakura replied indignantly, still angry from the encounter. I heard someone come up behind us and grab Sakura's dress, tugging on it. Unfortunately he happened to grab in the exact same place the other weirdo had. Sakura froze, once again enraged, and twitched angrily.

"HEY, BUSTER-!" she yelled, swivelling round, only to stop when she saw a frightened, innocent, wide-eyed little boy standing behind her. Her expression quickly changed to a softer, slightly surprised expression when she saw the small boy. He smiled angelically and held his open hands out to her.

"Please?" he asked. The little boy giggled, sounding slightly nervous, with his eyes closed.

Sakura regarded the boy with pity-filled eyes, before reaching into her bag and pulling out some small, green and orange boiled sweets. The child looked surprised and delighted, accepting the sweets happily.

"Thank you!"

Sakura and I both smiled at the little boy, touched by his sincereness. He ran off, clutching the sweets tightly in his fists.

"This is how it's been since Gato came here," Tazuna explained as Sakura wiped a tear from her eye that threatened to spill over. "The children suffer.. and the adults are afraid to stand up to him. They've lost all hope - that's why I have to finish the bridge. It will be a symbol of courage. We must restore the spirit of our people."

I looked around, seeing hopeless, disenchanted citizens of the village, gazing sadly at the floor or begging where they could.

"When the bridge is finished, people will start to believe again. They will believe that they can live with dignity. We can't let Gato stop us!" Tazuna finished, determination clear in his voice and stance.

I caught Sakura's eye and could tell she was thinking the same as me. We had to help these people, no matter what.

"It's been ages since we've had so many guests around our table," Tazuna said. We were all seated around the dining table in his house.. Sakura and I were eating normally, but Sasuke and Naruto were practically shoving it down their throats, determined to win their little competition.

"I WANT SOME MORE!" they both yelled, holding up their empty ramen bowls, then glared at each other, shooting sparks. Suddenly both keeled over and threw up.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," I sighed. I'd told them they'd make themselves sick if they continued wolfing their food so fast.

"DON'T EAT SO MUCH IF YOU'RE GONNA PUKE IT UP!" Sakura complained angrily, an anime vein appearing on her forehead as she shouted.

"I have to eat!" Sasuke said.

"And I have to eat more than him. It's the only way I'll get strong enough to beat him!" Naruto stated determinedly, through clenched teeth. Both still had their heads bent, though I hoped they'd finished spewing up their food by now.

"It's true. But puking won't help you," Kakashi informed them boredly, his arms crossed.

"Excuse me? This picture is torn. Is there some reason for that?" Sakura asked. We were sat around a small table drinking tea, with Naruto practically gulping it down. He hadn't liked the taste of his vomit, that's for sure. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, stood at the sink washing the dishes from supper, whilst Sakura had stood up and was now observing a small framed photograph that hung on the wall. She was right, the top left corner of the photograph had been torn away, as though someone had ripped somebody out of the photo.

"Inari, you kept glancing at it all through dinner. It looks like someone else was in the picture but was torn out. I mean, that's kinda strange, isn't it?" she continued. I smacked my palm to my face, despite my effort to resist the urge to facepalm, as Tazuna and Kakashi paused suddenly. Inari looked like he was about to murder somebody. I took one look at his expression and edged slowly closer to Sasuke, away from Inari, because I was sitting in between the two of them.

"It's my husband," Tsunami explained bluntly, without turning around, after a few seconds of tense silence.

"They used to call him a hero in this land," Tazuna elaborated. Inari suddenly stood up and turned to leave.

"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami asked, worried. Inari simply ran out of the door without replying, and Tsunami followed her son, worried.

"Father, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that!" she exclaimed angrily. She then left, slamming the door loudly behind her.

The room was quiet as an awkward, tense silence crept over us.

"Inari's so... I mean, what happened to him?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Hm, is there a story behind this..?" Kakashi looked at Tazuna expectantly, as did the rest of us, each one of us curious.

"He wasn't his real father, he came into our family later... And he brought so much happiness. He and Inari were very close."

I looked up at the photo as Tazuna spoke, spying a happier-looking, cheerful Inari. I barely recognised him with the changed expression.

"Things were different back then; Inari used to laugh all the time.." he looked as if he was struggling to continue, clenching his fists. "But then..."

We all watched him expectantly, as tears dripped down his cheeks and on to the table.

"All that ended. He never laughs or smiles any more. Ever since the day everything changed."

Get on with it old man... I thought. I wonder what happened to Inari... What made him so touchy and self-absorbed...

I'm sorry I had to cut it off here T_T You got to see a bit of a different side to Eira ;o she can actually be compassionate *Shock* Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review, tell me what you think! ^.^


	10. Chapter 9

Okay, I MAY skip the end of the Land of Waves arc because it's boring me now T.T You guys should know what happens anyway :P. I prefer being original and writing my own fillers rather than going by the story line, but at least it's more interesting than constant arguing and picking weeds and shiz with team 8.

Also, thanks for the reviews guys! I'm not used to yet (as I said in an earlier chapter I uploaded this to a different site originally) so I don't really know how to use the site much and the reply stuff is confusing haha so I'm just saying thanks here :')

"The man and Inari met about three years ago..." Tazuna began his story. He went on to explain how there were three young boys, older than Inari, ganging up on him. Two held him by the arms, holding him back, as the third taunted him, holding his little puppy, Pochi. The boy was telling Inari that the dog belonged to him now and was called Shooting Star.

"Wait," I interrupted. "You say they were older than Inari? Fucking wimps, could they not pick on someone their own size?"

"Language," Kakashi warned. I didn't know why that got me so worked up. I just got irritated when people thought they could pick on someone because they were bigger and supposedly better.

"Yes, I know," Tazuna sighed. "Anyway..."

He then went on to explain how Inari was shouting and trying to get Pochi back, but to no avail; the boy threw Pochi in the sea, saying he didn't want him anymore because Inari wouldn't give the puppy up without a fight. He then commanded the other two to let Inari go and taunted Inari, saying if he cared for him so much, why didn't he go and save him? Inari didn't know how to swim, but the boy kicked him in and he was flailing about in the water.

"This isn't very important but Pochi learned how to doggy paddle then," Tazuna stated. We all stared at him increduously.

"Whoop de doop, Pochi magically learned how to swim right after Inari was pushed in, but didn't manage it when the kid was standing panicking," I muttered scornfully. Eriko barked in agreement, turning up her nose in disgust. Neither of us had ever liked dogs who abandoned their owners during a crisis, and stupid Pochi had done just that. Eriko nuzzled my hand and licked my cheek to show that she'd never do anything like that to me, earning a cuddle from myself. The only thing I was affectionate towards was Eriko.

Tazuna and the others watched our little exchange, none really understanding what we meant except for Kakashi. Then Tazuna explained the magical story of how the boys ran after Ponchi, Inari nearly drowned, some dude came and saved him, blah blah freaking blah. I had lost my interest after hearing about Pochi's wonderful faithfulness.

I averted my gaze to stare intently at Sasuke until he looked uncomfortable and turned around to meet my gaze.

"What?" he asked, sounding more confused than annoyed.

"Did you ever notice that your hair looks like a chicken's ass?"

"...What?"

"Is that all you can say?" I asked, exasperated.

"Wh-"

"Oh my fucking-"

"Language," Kakashi cut me off. I scowled and turned away as Tazuna continued his oh-so-interesting story.

"I need to get you a doggie coat or something... Maybe a fluffy pink one," I murmured, running my fingers through Eriko's soft fur. She shot me an indignant look as if to say, 'No way in hell!'

"I'm joking, calm down," I assured her, smirking. She settled down again and I soon heard her slow, deep breathing, informing me that she was sleeping.

I began listening to Tazuna again when he explained how Inari's new 'father' was beaten and hung on a cross by Gato's men. Gato claimed that he had went against Gato Corporation using force, and disturbed the order of his country, when really Gato was just afraid that Kaiza, Inari's father, would be able to stop Gato from taking over their country. Therefore, Gato's men executed him. Inari felt betrayed, as Kaiza had promised to protect him and the people of their country, but he had allowed himself to die.

"Inari has changed ever since that time. Tsunami and the people of this town as well."

Now I understood. Why Inari had scoffed and told Naruto there was no such thing as a hero. Why he had been crying his eyes out in his room...

Suddenly Naruto keeled over and collapsed face-down on the floor.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?" I asked, as everyone turned to stare at him.

"If you're trying to train, don't," Kakashi told him. "You've used too much chakra. If you move any more, you're going to die."

Naruto determinedly struggled to get up, but managed to use his hands to shakily raise his head and chest, shaking all over.

"I'm going to prove to him..." he stated. He seemed to be struggling to form his sentence and fell silent.

"Prove what?" Sakura questioned as we watched, both expectantly and confused.

"That there are heroes in this world." Naruto laborously managed to climb to his feet, fists clenched, a determined grin etched on his face. "I'm going to prove it to him!"

"Good morning," Sakura mumbled lethargically, yawning loudly. Kakashi, Inari, Tazuna, Sasuke and I were all sat around the little wooden table drinking tea.

"Here you go," Tsunami handed Sakura her breakfast as she sat down. Sakura thanked her as Tsunami walked away to finish washing our dishes.

"Naruto didn't come back last night again?" Tazuna asked.

"He's stupid, so he's been climbing trees by himself every night," Sakura sighed.

"Again?" I asked, my brow furrowing. "Poor little guy..." I murmured, mostly to myself.

"He might be dead from excessive chakra overuse," Sakura continued.

"Uh.. I'm gonna go look for him.." I told them, getting to my feet.

"Don't tell me you care for that idiot?" Sasuke asked, obviously having caught on to my don't-care attitude.

"Shut it. Of course I don't, stupid. I'm just bored, stuck in this house."

"What did you call me?" Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"I called you stupid."

"Don't call Sasuke stupid!" Sakura raged angrily.

"Sorry, I'll leave cutie-pie, darling Sasuke alone then," I jeered, pinching Sasuke's cheek like he was a baby. Sasuke growled as I walked out, and just to aggravate him further I turned around and blew him a kiss; then I was gone.

I heard Sasuke follow out of the door but I didn't turn round. My sharp ears had heard a part of their conversation, catching his explanation for leaving. He had told the others that he was going for a walk, but it was fairly obvious he was just worried about Naruto surpassing him.

(A/N: From here I'm simply using my memory of what happens so sorry if I get anything wrong, I haven't watched the episode for a very very long time)

I was deep into the forest by now, and I could see the little figure of Naruto in a small clearing not far away. I climbed - well, walked - up a tree and stole through the foliage until I reached a tree overlooking Naruto. The poor kid had tired himself out from the overuse of chakra and was lying spread-eagled on the ground, asleep.

Suddenly I noticed, not far off, a figure crouching at the herb patch. I stared intently at the person, examining him or her. The person looked feminine, with long black hair and a pink kimono, but I noticed the person had something masculine about them, added to the fact that they were completely flat chested, despite being slightly older than us, fourteen or fifteen maybe. Drag queen, maybe?

Naruto suddenly snored loudly, catching the attention of the... I'll just say it was a girl. She turned her head sharply to look at the sleeping Naruto. I watched intently as the girl made her way over to Naruto, and crouched down beside him. Her hand reached towards Naruto and I tensed, ready to leap to Naruto's aid if necessary, despite the girl looking fairly harmless; but then the girl spoke.

"You'll catch a cold sleeping out here," she murmured, taking Naruto's shoulder and shaking it gently.

"Huh, wha? Who are you?" Naruto asked drowsily, opening his eyes lethargically. The girl simply smiled at him before standing up and walking back over to his basket. Naruto followed the girl over to the herb patch where he'd been standing before and began to help her pick them.

"Is this the plant you need?" Naruto asked and the girl nodded, continuing to pick the herbs.

"Thank you for helping me," the girl smiled sweetly, standing up. I was really confused; because the girl definitely sounded and looked feminine, but as I said, there was still a hint of masculinity about her.

"You're sure working early, lady," Naruto commented conversationally. So I wasn't the only one who had chosen to assume she was female.

"So are you; what are you doing in the forest so early in the morning?" the girl asked. Oh, so she was a girl then. She hadn't objected when he called her lady, at least.

"Arf!" Eriko barked quietly, so only I could hear.

"I know she does... I've come to the conclusion that she's a drag queen. Or just underdeveloped," I replied, still confused. You can probably guess what Eriko asked.

"I'm training!" Naruto replied proudly.

"Your forehead protector... Are you a ninja?" the girl asked. I stared at her suspiciously; she sounded way too innocent.

"Hell yeah, I'm a ninja!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Wow, you're impressive!" again with the innocent sincerity. There was something off about this kid, I just couldn't put my finger on it though, and I couldn't detect any hint of sarcasm in her tone. Naruto giggled and continued to pick herbs.

"Why are you training?" the girl asked eventually.

"Because I want to be a strong ninja!" Naruto grinned determinedly. He was acting really strangely; he sure trusted people quickly. Or maybe he just thought the girl was cute or something. Boys...

I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"But you already look very strong."

"No, I mean; I want to become even stronger than I already am!"

"Why is that?"

Naruto grinned widely, before stating, "So I can become the greatest ninja in my village! I want to make everyone acknowledge my strength and I want to surpass my rival!"

"Is this for someone else, or for yourself?" the girl questioned. Naruto didn't seem to understand and stared at the her dumbly, whilst I resisted the urge to facepalm. The girl giggled suddenly.

"What's so funny?" Naruto pouted.

"Is there someone who is important to you?" she asked gently. Naruto looked completely dumbfounded.

"When someone has something important to protect, that's when they become truly strong," the girl explained. Naruto's eyes grew wide as he processed this information, then softened.

"Yeah, I understand that," he beamed at the young girl, before she stood up and picked up her basket.

"You will be strong. Why don't we meet again somewhere?" she suggested.

"Uh.. Sure!" Naruto replied. As the girl walked away, she suddenly turned around.

"Oh, by the way... I'm a boy."


	11. Chapter 10

Okay, I skipped the rest of the land of waves because I was genuinely getting bored and couldn't be bothered with two or three more chapters of team Kakashi vs Zabuza and Haku. Honestly, how boring. Sorry if you guys wanted to read it, I just got a little bored. And hey, you should know what happens anyway.

By the way, after Haku told Naruto he was a boy, Eira fell out of the tree and Naruto was like WTF SERIOUSLY. If you were wondering their reactions :3

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP, IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY!"

"Huh wha?" I sleepily opened one eye, but then my eyes shot wide and I sat up quickly when I saw Naruto's face an inch away from mine.

"Naruto, don't do that!" I complained, holding my head.

"Sorry..." he scratched his head sheepishly but then began giggling stupidly.

"It's VALENTINES DAY!" he screeched. I visibly jumped, once again startled by his annoying outbursts.

"Can you stop that? Yeah, I gathered," I grumbled, dragging myself out of the tangled sheets.

"I-I got you something," Naruto's tone was more nervous as he said this, unsure of whether I'd accept it or not. "I mean, it's not like... I mean I'm not... I mean..."

"I get it," I cut him off, laughing. "It's a friend thing."

Naruto nodded his head vigorously before pulling a small package out of his pocket and thrusting it in my face.

"Um, here you go!" I took the package carefully and smiled. It was incredibly badly-wrapped and the shiny red wrapping paper had a small stain on, most likely from some food or other. Not bothering to be careful, I tore the paper open to find a plain black box.

"Open it!" Naruto urged.

"Calm down, I was about to, geez!" I gently removed the lid from the little box and gasped.

"Naruto..." Inside was an expensive-looking silver necklace. It's silver chain looked so delicate, with intricately-woven links. Attached were two intertwined silver rings.

"Naruto... It's beautiful," I murmured, awed. "You shouldn't have..."

"Ah, it was nothin'," Naruto grinned, visibly pleased that I liked it. Suddenly, more to my surprise than his, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Thanks," I grinned, pulling away. His eyes were still wide from surprise, but he quickly regained his composure and grinned widely.

"I've got a present for Sakura-chan too," he told me excitedly. My smile faltered a little when he said that. Sakura would likely reject him, poor kid. I smiled inwardly when I thought about the 'special present' I had bought for a certain someone.

"So... Are you getting a present for anyone?" Naruto asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yes I have..."

Naruto obviously noticed the mischievous edge to my tone and regarded me with a worried expression.

"Oh god, what are you planning?"

"Nothing!" I smiled innocently. Naruto shot me another worried glance before bounding out the door, calling,

"I'm gonna go give a present to Sakura-chan!"

"If he got me this, I wonder what he got Sakura," I murmured, looking down at the beautiful necklace. I closed it and placed it carefully on my desk, before getting dressed in my long-sleeved fitted red hoodie and black skirt that I'd made Kiba buy for me, along with my usual black combat boots and thigh-high black socks. I tied my hair up in two loose pony tails on either side of my head, then looked down at Eriko.

"I didn't forget you, don't worry," I grinned, pulling out a chew toy and a bone, both with ribbon tied around them. Eriko barked happily and took the chew toy in her jaws and nuzzled the bone. Suddenly she dived on me, tackling me, and began licking my face.

"Get... Off..." I gasped between giggles. When she finally stopped licking me, I stood up and brushed myself off.

"Come on," I laughed, heading out of the door as she bounded happily behind me.

I made my way through the streets until I came to the house I was looking for. After I'd knocked and waited for a few minutes, the door opened and a tired-looking, pyjama-clad Kiba stood in the doorway, yawning.

"Yo dog-boy. Happy Valentines Day." I thrust the small package at him, and the confused boy looked at the packet of cheap dog biscuits in his hand.

"These are for Akamaru, right?" he asked.

"Of course not, they're for you, silly. THESE are for Akamaru," I smirked, pulling out another package and giving it to him. This time it was more expensive, pedigree dog biscuits.

"Ha, ha. Very funny Kihara," Kiba said sarcastically.

"I figured that the mutt should have the cheaper ones, I hope you don't mind."

Kiba scowled and was about to slam the door in my face but I wedged my foot between the door and it's frame.

"What do you want?" he snapped, reopening the door.

"...Can I come in?" I asked after a while. Kiba stared at me stupidly.

"Do you want me to spell it out for you? CAN - I - COME - IN?" I repeated, saying the words louder and slower than necessary.

"Um... Sure?" he opened the door a little wider, allowing Eriko and I to enter.

"Hm, nice," I commented, observing his house. Suddenly Akamaru bounded downstairs and tackled Eriko, and the two barked excitedly, greeting each other with doggy-kisses. Kiba and I stood awkwardly, looking at the two dogs.

"So... Is there a reason for you wanting to come in?" Kiba asked after a minute.

"Not really. It's just, Naruto's out and I'm bored, so..."

"Ah." we lapsed back into an awkward silence.

"Uh... Do you want a drink?"

"Sure," I nodded and sat down on the couch, glueing my eyes to the TV as Kiba went into the kitchen. Some documentary about a vet was playing. I found myself widening my eyes in horror and disgust a I watched, because it was about a vet that didn't look after the pets he was supposed to be taking care of, not stitching properly after operations and stuff. Eventually Kiba came back holding two glasses of Coca cola and sat down on the couch opposite.

"What're you watching?" I didn't respond, but I could sense his horror, equal to mine, as he watched, indicating the one thing we had in common - our love of animals.

"That's disgraceful... Why I've never sent Akamaru to a vet to heal him."

"Dude, there's no vet in Konoha anyway... There's plenty of medic nins."

"Hey, you didn't call me mutt for once," Kiba smirked, causing me to pick a cushion up from the couch and chuck it at his face.

"Hey!" he gasped in annoyance as the cushion jolted his hand and made him spill his drink all over himself. I couldn't help it, and burst out laughing.

"Shut up."

"S-Sorry," I gasped between laughter. "Hang on."

I stood up and walked into his kitchen, searching until I found a tea towel. When I walked back in, he was wringing out his grey shirt.

"Here," I took hold of the end of his shirt and attempted to wipe it.

"Nah, it's okay," Kiba pulled his shirt out of my grip, but then pulled it over his head and threw it on the couch.

"Uh, Eira?"

"Huh?" I looked up and blushed, realising I'd been ogling at him.

"Nothing," he laughed and sat down with his legs crossed on the couch.

"Geez, I don't wanna be a teenager. I'm becoming a pervert or something," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" Kiba asked. I hadn't realised he could hear me. Dammit, i forgot about his oversensitive hearing like my own.

"Nothing." I sat down slowly on the couch opposite. He seemed to notice my stiff movements, though.

"Are you alright? I get it, you don't like me, but no need to act so awkward," he muttered.

"Well if I'm so bloody awkward, why am I still here?" I demanded, suddenly annoyed.

"Wait, I didn't mean-" Kiba hurriedly tried to rephrase, but I'd already stood up and stormed to the door in a huff.

"Whatever, Mutt."

I stomped off in a random direction, too irritated to pay attention to where I was going, until I found myself almost bumping into a tree. I sighed and leaned against it with my eyes closed, my back sliding down it until I was sitting down.

I didn't know why I was so irritated, Kiba hadn't exactly said anything terrible. He just annoyed me though.

Suddenly I spotted a streak of pink and before I knew it, Sakura had bounded over, followed by Ino.

"Hi?" I made it sound more like a question.

"Pick one!" Sakura displayed a bunch of pieces of paper in front of me.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just do it!"

I hesitantly removed a piece of paper from the group and turned it around. Written on it was the number 24.

"Cool. What's this?Am I 24 years old? Am I contestant number 24? What's going on?"

"Well..." Ino began, excitement clear on her face, which just made me more suspicious. "You've just been entered in our Valentine's day..."

"Oh no."

"BLIND DATE!" the two yelled together.

"...You're kidding. Right? Please be joking."

"Of course we're not," Sakura grinned. "Your date will be at your house at six. Be ready. Oh and, Eriko, pick a card."

Eriko took one of the pieces of paper in her teeth and laid it down on the floor. Number thirteen.

"Awesome, same goes for you Eriko!"

"Hang on... Eriko's participating?"

"Yup! We also got Akamaru and a couple of other random pets around the village to join in," Ino explained. "There's also the jounin like Kakashi and Asuma joining in!"

"You're kidding..."

"Nope. Well, enjoy your dates, they'll arrive at six!"

With that they were off. I banged the back of my head against the tree repetitively.

"What're you doing?" I heard a familiar drawl. I looked up to see Kakashi standing above me, an Icha Icha paradise book in his hand.

"Hey, old man," I greeted with a wave.

"You do realise I'm in my twenties?"

"What, with all that grey hair?"

"It's white," Kakashi corrected.

"Are you sure, old man?" I asked, adding the 'old man' again to annoy him. I stood up and fell into step beside him, although he didn't glue his eyes away from his book as we walked.

"Perfectly. Have Sakura and Ino included you in their little... Project?" he questioned.

"Unfortunately, yes. They've made you take part, haven't they?"

"Yeah.. I'm too old to play childish games."

"Are you sure, Mr Pervert?"

"I'm not a pervert!" Kakashi raged.

"Says the one reading Make-out paradise," I smirked. Kakashi shrugged, not bothering to argue with that.

"I'd best be off now. I have somewhere to... Go," Kakashi informed me, before giving a wave and walking in a different direction. What a liar. I'd seen him spending his mornings talking to rocks.

It was 3:00 so I decided it was a smart idea to head back home. That'd give me enough time to bathe Eriko and shower and get ready myself before 6:00. On the way home I spotted Naruto.

"Hey Naruto!" I greeted with a wave.

"Hi! Have Sakura and Ino got you involved with this too?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah... How do you know what house to go to?"

"They wrote me instructions on how to get to the house without telling me whose house it was," he explained.

When we reached the house, I ran straight upstairs and bathed Eriko. She had very muddy paws.

"You excited for your date, old girl?" I asked as I lathered dog-shampoo into her fur.

"Arf!" Eriko barked happily. She just hoped her date was Akamaru.

"Glad to know one of us is," I sighed.

"Crap."

I'd just realised I had absolutely nothing to wear for my date. It was already half past four and I only had an hour and a half to get ready... And nothing to wear. I didn't even have enough money to go and buy an outfit. Suddenly I had an idea.

"Oi, Naruto! I'm just going over to Sakura's, okay?"

"Alright," he called back, before I shot out of the door. I ran as fast as I could until I sped to a stop at Sakura's door and knocked. Within a few seconds, Sakura had opened the door. She was already dressed, in a cute little red dress with spaghetti straps.

"You have nothing to wear, right?" she asked knowingly.

"How did you know?"

"I just know these things. Which is why I've already picked something out for you! Come in!" she invited. I stepped inside and followed the pinkette upstairs to her room, to see a dress laid out on the bed. It was a black, strapless cocktail dress. But it was SHORT.

"I can't wear this!" I gasped. "Have you seen the length of it?"

"Don't worry! You have skinny legs, it'll look fine on you!"

"That's not the point! I want to look like I'm on a date, not a prostitute!"

"Calm down, it won't look bad on you. Trust me," Sakura reassured. Heck, why was I even getting so worked up about it? I was turning into such a girly girl! Geez.

"It'll do... It's a pretty dress. Thanks Sakura," I smiled. A genuine smile... Yes, I actually smiled at Sakura. I then waved goodbye, grabbed the dress and wished her luck on her date, before speeding out of the door. When I reached home I put my hair in rollers and slipped on the black dress and looked in the mirror.

"Wow..." I murmured. It actually looked really nice. Well, I was pleased with it anyway. I then pulled out my very-rarely-used makeup bag and opened it, pulling out eyeliner, mascara, smoky eyeshadow and lipgloss before applying each of them one by one. I then pulled on some knee-high black socks but fixed them so they were bunched up a little and only reached my mid-calf, then slipped on my combat boots. I couldn't resist it. If I was going to wear a pretty dress, have my hair curled and wear make-up, I had to wear casual socks and shoes.

I then opened the lid of the little black box on my desk and carefully pulled out my new, delicate silver necklace.

"Hey- wow. Eira you look awesome!" Naruto grinned, entering my room.

"Thanks," I laughed. "Hey, could you help me put this on?" I held out the necklace to him and he nodded, evidently pleased from his smile that I was going to wear the necklace he'd gave me. He took the necklace from me and carefully placed it around my neck before fastening the clasp.

"Thanks Naruto," I grinned.

"Anyway, I'd better get going, I don't wanna be late for my date!" he waved and ran out of the door.

"Bye! Have fun! Make sure you don't blow her up," I called after him as I pulled out the rollers, leaving my raven-black hair in loose curls tumbling over my shoulders.

"Do we look good or what?" I grinned to Eriko as I placed a small black bow in my hair. I'd placed a little black flower in Eriko's hair - fur - just above her right ear, combed her fur so that it looked soft and perfect, painted her paw-nails black and filed them, and even put a black collar decorated with diamonds - fake of course - around her neck, which she was incredibly proud of.

"Arf!" she agreed. It was five to six, so we went downstairs to wait and sat on the couch. I stroked her absent-mindedly, staring blankly at the animated images of tellytubbies bouncing across the screen.

Six o'clock dragged by, then ten past six, then twenty past six...

I was panicking by now. What if they didn't show up? What if it was Kakashi? I'd heard many stories from Naruto about how Kakashi was always hours late for just about everything, so I was wondering... Could it be him?

Suddenly, at twenty-five past six there was a knock at the door, and I jumped up to answer it.

I slowly opened the door, praying it wasn't an adult or anyone I disliked. Soon the door was fully opened and I stood and stared at the person standing in front of me in the doorway.

"Hey."

So when I wrote this chapter it was actually valentine's day XD But that was on the other site that I upload this story to so yeah :P Anyway please review and tell me what you think ^.^ Also thanks you guys for your reviews! I'd reply to each individually but I honestly never have time T.T Even for something as short as that, so I'm putting thanks here :] Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed

Sayonara!


	12. Chapter 11

So sorry for not updating for a while :( I've been a bit busy lately, but here's chapter 11! I feel bad cause I COMPLETELY forgot that I left you guys on a cliffhanger! Anyway, sorry for the wait, but here's chapter 11...finally ^_^

"Hey."

"SASUKE?" I gasped, staring at the raven haired boy standing in my doorway. He was wearing a smart white shirt with black trousers, hands in his trouser pockets, and didn't have his headband on.

"No, Barney."

"Thought so. Wait, so..."

"Yep, I'm your date, apparently," he smirked.

"Then who's..." I trailed off. Originally I was going to ask who Eriko's date was, but it looked like I'd already found out. Walking towards us was Kiba and Akamaru. Akamaru had a little black bow-tie around his neck and Kiba was dressed similarly to Sasuke, with a smart grey shirt with the top two buttons undone and black trousers. Same as Sasuke, he wasn't wearing a headband.

"Huh? Why are there two of you?" I asked, confused. Sasuke turned around to see who I was talking to and raised his eyebrows.

"Akamaru and I were both given directions to come here," Kiba informed me.

"Hang on..." I looked at Sasuke, confused. He just shrugged.

"So it's like... The five of us?" I was still bewildered.

"I dunno... I suppose." Kiba shrugged.

"Hang on a minute... Sasuke what was your number?"

"24," he answered instantly.

"Akamaru's number was 24!" Kiba interjected.

"Okay... There's obviously been some kind of mix-up here..." I murmured, confused.

"Well actually, I changed my number to 24 at last minute because Sakura fixed it so that she'd be my date," Sasuke laughed.

"And did Sakura and Ino not know this?" I asked sternly.

"Of course they knew. They just couldn't keep up with the arrangements. Which means... Sakura's without a date."

"Sasuke! She worked hard on this... Even if she is desperate to have you. Go to her," I scolded.

"Alright, alright. Wouldn't wanna get in the way of you two lovebirds anyway," he said sarcastically.

"Okay, you better go, or you'll find that everyone will be reminiscing about that Uchiha who was murdered on valentines day outside Naruto's house," I warned him, a dangerous edge to my voice. Sasuke held his hands up defensively.

"I'm going!"

With that, Sasuke was off. I looked at Kiba awkwardly, but suddenly something clicked and my eyes widened.

"Y-You said Akamaru's number was 24, right?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"And yours is 13?"

"Yeah, why?" Kiba looked confused now.

"Think about it."

Kiba still didn't get it for quite a while, but suddenly it dawned on him. His mouth opened a little and his eyes widened.

"You're kidding..."

"Nope, Akamaru's my date," I confirmed. "I kind of wish I hadn't made Sasuke go now... Then again, it could have been worse. You could have been my date."

"I'm not that bad!" Kiba cried indignantly.

"Oh yeah, mutt-boy?"

"Why don't we just go rather than arguing?" he suggested. I sighed and nodded, before locking the door and following him. I felt Eriko's dangerous warning gaze on me; she was jealous.

"Sorry," I murmured to her, before turning to Kiba. "So, where are we going?"

"Wherever you want, really..."

"Ooh, is there a restaurant in Konoha that allows dogs?"

"No," Kiba sighed.

"Arf!" Eriko barked. Translation: 'Why don't you leave me and Akamaru and go enjoy yourselves?'. Translation: 'Back off my boyfriend and leave us alone together'.

"Fine," I sighed, and the two dogs bounded off happily. "So now where are we going?"

"Well.. The Leaf restaurant is nice..." Kiba murmured.

"Yeah, but that's the most expensive restaurant in Konoha apparently."

"I have money."

"Seriously? You'd actually take me there?" I asked in disbelief, before my eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Kiba smirked. "And sure, why not? A girl deserves to be treated."

"A girl you hate."

"You've got a point, but whatever."

We walked in silence for most of the way. I spotted Naruto and Hinata walking side by side, Hinata blushing madly, and waved.

"Having fun guys?" I called.

"Yeah, we're going to an expensive RAMEN restaurant," Naruto grinned, then his eyes fell on Kiba and he flashed me a worried look. He knew we disliked each other.

"So where are you guys going?" he asked.

"The Leaf Resturant."

"Woah, isn't that like, really expensive?" Naruto asked, eyes wide.

"Yep," Kiba replied, a little smugly.

"Well, have fun you guys!" Naruto grinned, before walking off with a blushing Hinata.

"B-bye," Hinata stuttered.

"Aw, aren't they cute," I murmured.

"Yeah, yeah. We're here," Kiba informed me.

"Yeah, I gathered," I rolled my eyes, seeing the restaurant in front of me. It was traditional Japanese-styled and looked amazing. Suddenly we spotted Sasuke and a giggling Sakura in the line together and jumped in with them. No one yelled at us, assuming the four of us were together.

"Having fun?" I smirked. Sakura nodded vigorously and Sasuke rolled his eyes at me.

"How about you guys?" Sasuke asked, his smirk now as wide as mine.

"Shut it, you. Remember what I mentioned about reminiscing?" That shut him up. The line gradually moved forwards until Sasuke and Sakura were at the front of the line.

"Bye!" Sakura waved as they were led to a table.

"Table for two, please," Kiba requested. I noticed him shake the man's hand, slipping money into it, since we didn't actually have a reserved table. The waiter nodded and smiled.

"Right this way, sir," another waiter waved us over. We followed him through the restaurant and he led us around a partition to a small ring of booths.

"Here?" I asked, confused.

"It's Valentine's day, all the two-seater tables are full," the waiter smiled at me. I nodded and sat down opposite a quiet Kiba. The booth was very private, and it was quite awkward.

"Call me over when you're ready to order," the waiter smiled at us as he handed us menus before leaving.

"So..." I murmured, resting my elbow on the table and my head in my hand.

"So..." Kiba echoed.

"Man, why did Eriko and Akamaru have to leave?" I asked rhetorically. "This is so awkward! No offence," I tacked on to the end quickly in case he was offended.

"It's alright. I know what you mean."

I averted my gaze to the menu and tried to concentrate on reading it, but I could feel someone's stare fixated on me. I looked up to see Kiba looking at me.

"What?"

"Huh?" he only just seemed to realise he had been staring at me. He must've been randomly daydreaming and found himself accidentally staring, I did that a lot. "Sorry." he looked down at his own menu and began scanning the list, and I did the same.

Soon the waiter from before sauntered in.

"Are you ready to order?" the waiter asked. We nodded and both gave him our orders before he took the menus back and left, telling us our meals would be ready shortly.

"So, what do you think Akamaru and Eriko will be up to?" Kiba asked conversationally.

"I don't even wanna know," I grimaced, causing us both to laugh. We fell silent again, and I could feel the awkwardness in the air.

"I've been way too nice to you today," I murmured.

"Yeah, you have. Aren't you usually thinking of some devious trick to play on me or a way to humiliate me?

"I'm having a day off."

"Ah."

Soon the waiter was back, holding a tray that had two glasses of coke on top. He laid them down carefully in front of us and smiled, before leaving again.

"Have you noticed how much that guy smiles?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink, listening to the tinkling sound of the ice cubes knocking against the glass as they floated about in the liquid.

"You're right... He does. His smile's a little creepy, too," Kiba laughed. It was hard trying to make conversation because we were away from everyone else in the restaurant, meaning that it was very quiet. If there were people around us, there'd already be noise so making conversation would be easier and not as necessary, but every time one of us spoke in here, a deathly silence followed.

Eventually the waiter arrived once more with our food.

"Here you go, enjoy your meals!" he smiled and left, taking Kiba's glass to refill as he'd drank it already.

I slowly picked up my fork and began to push my food around on my plate for no particular reason. I kept my head bent, so that my hair was nearly falling into my food.

"Eira... Do you really hate me?" Kiba asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

Before I could answer properly, the waiter returned with Kiba's drink, then took mine to refill.

"I said, do you really hate me? Like, honestly?" Kiba repeated, once the waiter had left.

"Don't ask me that right now," I replied stiffly. Of course I did. This was mutt boy we were talking about here.

We didn't talk again until we'd finished our meals. When the waiter left with our plates and handed us the bill, Kiba quickly paid and we left.

"Do you wanna go home yet?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Not particularly. It's only half past eight," I responded. We walked through the streets until we reached a small hill next to a river. When we reached the hill, I sat down and stared up at the stars. Soon I felt someone sit down beside me.

"The stars are pretty, aren't they?" I asked, absent-mindedly picking strands of grass out of the ground.

"Very..."

We sat like that for a while until we suddenly saw fireworks going off in the distance. Startled, I turned to look to see where the fireworks came from, and my sharp eyes caught sight of the silhouette of a couple not far off, illuminated by the brightness of the fireworks.

"Hey... Look, doesn't that look like Kakashi?" I asked, pointing. The couple were kissing, and one had tall, spiked-up hair that I was certain belonged to Kakashi.

"Is Kakashi that white-haired guy that always reads Icha Icha paradise?" Kiba asked, squinting his eyes.

"That's the one. I'm certain that's him."

"Yeah... I think it is. But who's that with him?"

"I have no idea... Let's just hope it's not a student," I murmured. Kiba nodded in agreement.

"You know... Tonight wasn't so bad," I said after a while.

"I'll have to agree there."

It's an awful place to cut it off but I have to cut it off there I'm afraid, for certain reasons :P

Anyway, so you all guessed it would be Kiba.

And you were wrong, it was both Akamaru and Sasuke :3 She acted weird didn't she? Usually she'd be arguing with him. Ah well, she's mellow on Valentine's Day.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think, thanks for reading! :)


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